Skipper Tim Davidson finds the chalk for Uni’s first – Photo: seiserphotography.com

by Paul Cook –

Sydney University have illustrated their desire to retain the Shute Shield title with a comprehensive 41-13 dismissal of Northern Suburbs under the lights at University Oval No.1. Cheered on by a healthy Friday night crowd, the Students were keen to assert their presence onto this year’s competition after struggling to ignite in the opening five rounds and their five try performance was easily their most cohesive to date.

Tim Davidson led by example with two tries on the back of an uncompromising shift and it was no coincidence that the passion, desire and sheer bloody minded will to win shone through on a night when the stalwart skipper and his erstwhile offsider Tom Carter, returned to the Students cause after a couple of weeks absence. Norths’ famed defence was simply blown away as Uni went back to basics and powered their opponents into submission and the Shoremen will have to go away and lick their wounds after this one.

Two for the price of one: Tom Carter was at his confrontational best for the Students
Photo: seiserphotography.com

“It was an important win and one we needed,” said Uni head coach Chris Malone afterwards, “not just in terms of where we sit on the ladder but also in terms of our guys seeing what they’re actually capable of and the understanding of what it takes to win first grade matches against tough opponents. We’ve got Souths next week so we can’t get ahead of ourselves but if we bring a level of intensity to our performance like we brought tonight, we’ll have a decent chance.”

Skipper Davidson concurred. “We still made plenty of mistakes but we made up for that with the pressure we put on their defence and our desire to get off the line so I couldn’t have been happier with the effort. The biggest thing for us and for our younger guys was learning to keep the pressure on for 80 minutes and that was a significant difference tonight. Our season wasn’t on the line but we had to make a statement and I was pretty proud the boys did that.”

All five of the Students tries came through the forwards as they reverted to the power game that has served them so well in recent years. When they could go wide, they didn’t shy away from going through the hands but the opposition and conditions dictated a tighter, more controlled approach then coach Malone has been fostering in his tenure thus far. “You’ve got to play the way you think is going to get the job done,” he explained. “Tonight, that was probably how it was going to be, there was a lot of dew on the ground and you’ve got to play sensibly.”

Norths winger Corey Brown had already passed up the opportunity to open the scoring with a missed penalty before he succeeded with a second kick after 10 minutes. However, that was to be the last time the visitors held the lead as Uni ramped up the pressure and plundered two tries in the next quarter of an hour.

Liam Winton dives over for Uni’s second. The former Emu is one of the Shute Shield’s most consistently impressive performers – Photo: seiserphotography.com

Having already been held up over the line after one trademark surge, Uni’s forwards regrouped from the ensuing five metre scrum to lay a platform for Davidson to strike off the back and find the chalk. 10 minutes later, it was the turn of the impressive and abrasive Liam Winton to score, powering through after a couple of phases off a Uni line out deep in Norths’ territory.

Rookie first grader Jock Merriman continues to find his feet in first grade and his accurate boot complemented both tries before adding a 34th minute penalty for good measure.

Brown had the chance to reduce arrears in the final minute of the half but pushed it wide to add to his earlier miss and while goal-kicker’s inevitably tread a thankless fine line between hero and villain, going into the sheds trailing 17-9 would have been a much better look than 17-3.

A Merriman penalty just after the restart extended Uni’s advantage before the Red & Blacks were finally stung into action. Putting together phase after phase they stretched the home defence and after finally working numbers on the left flank, it still took some outrageous hands from prop Nick Lah to basketball a pass to Liam Windon for the corner.

Stunned: Norths’ Will Weeks and Cruze Ah-Nau reflect on another Uni try
Photo: seiserphotography.com

Having gained a relative foothold in the match at 20-8 – still no luck for Brown off the tee – Norths needed to consolidate and hold firm for a while but they simply had no answer to Uni’s tried and tested bash and barge approach as the Students camped on their line and drove repeatedly until hooker Tolu Latu found a gap and that was effectively that.

Northern Suburbs head coach Scott Fava took a pragmatic view despite his obvious disappointment at losing two in a row. “I don’t think defensively we were bad,” he reflected. “That’s a hard thing to say considering the scoreline, but as a defensive unit, they didn’t get a lot of holes through us, mainly it was those simple soft tries that come from a set-piece or a fumble. I don’t think a lot of things are lost in terms of two weeks momentum, we’ve just got to know that this is quality opposition we’re playing – they were the two grand finalists last year.”

Davidson added some icing on the cake when he rolled back the years on the hour to stand up Norths fullback Windon, and show him a clean pair of heels down the sideline for his second. Officially the nicest man in club rugby, he was typically humble regarding his effort. “I tore my hammy of my bone I think and tripped over at the same time,” he joked. “Somebody just told me that the last time they saw me do that was nine years ago at Crescent Head Sevens!”

There was still time for Tom Boidin to add another from in close as Norths gave in to their fate and switched off the intensity. Merriman’s conversion pushed the score out to 41-8 before the visitors conjured a last minute consolation through centre Michael Freeman. Scott Daruda took over the kicking role from Brown but suffered the same fate. It just about summed up Norths’ evening.

Sydney University 41  (Tim Davidson 2, Liam Winton, Tolu Latu, Tom Boidin tries, Jock Merriman 5 cons, 2 pens) bt Northern Suburbs 13  (Liam Windon, Michael Freeman tries, Corey Brown pen)