Tomu Mataika in action for Parramatta last weekend. Photo: Debbie O’Connor.

by Brendan Bradford –

Parramatta vs Southern Districts –

Even though they restricted Manly to three tries, last weekend’s 28-15 loss was full of frustration for Parramatta. The Two Blues were shown three yellow cards and coach, Gerrard Fasavalu said he walked away from the match as unclear as ever about laws around the ruck.

“The scoreboard didn’t go our way, but in saying that, we kept Manly to three tries and kept them from a bonus point,” said Fasavalu.

“Going through the video, the policing of certain areas, in particular the gate around the ruck which was virtually non-existent and made it a lot messier than it should have been. As coaches we try to educate the players to play within the laws of the game and a lot of the time the ref wasn’t even calling it. It’s a major frustration.”

This Saturday’s showdown with Southern Districts is crucial in the context of the season as they’re separated by just one point on the table with the Rebels on 32 and Parramatta on 33. Randwick are also on 33 points but sit in fifth spot courtesy of points differential.

“We need to keep winning to secure the finals spot and not have to rely on other results and outcomes,” said Fasavalu.

“We want to be in control of what we can achieve and how we perform, and in order to reach the finals we just need to take each game as it comes. This week is another hard task, Southern Districts have one of the best set-pieces in the competition and probably the best scrum but it’s a challenge our boys will get up for.”

The Rebels were inconsistent in a win over Penrith last weekend and coach Matt Barr has even more worries with a host of injuries plaguing the side.

“Rohan Saifoloi did a knee injury at training, Jed Holloway is still a week or two away and Faleula Finau on the wing did his hamstring,” said Barr.

“Marcus Heather is out with rib cartilage damage, Kieran Black is still out and Ben Connolly has a slight strain of the quadriceps and is in doubt, so I’ve really been hit with the injury curse this year. The 18 week competition has really been really unfair on clubs and they talk about player welfare and players being the product, but over the past few years we’ve had byes to freshen up. But 18 weeks is too much.”

With games against Warringah, Norths and Eastwood over the next month, this weekend’s match is vital in giving the Rebels some momentum heading into the back stretch.

“Parramatta are just above us on the ladder but hopefully we can get a few wins over the next couple of weeks and leapfrog a few sides,” said Barr.

“It’s not the season on the line yet, but it’s going to make a big difference in us making the top six. Ideally we’d like to get that fifth spot and then you’re in semi-finals football and anything can happen from there.”

Tim Metcher, Maile Nguamo and Cameron Betham make up the Southern Districts front-row while Ed Falkingham and Jake Douglas – Kane’s younger brother – are the locks. Ben Volavola will assume the playmaking duties in the number 10 jersey while Luke Smart – usually a back-rower – is on the wing. Smart has been out with injury and has spent plenty of time in the Australian Sevens set-up over the past year.

Parramatta v Southern Districts at Merrylands RSL Rugby Park 3:00pm

Parramatta: 1. Nick Blacklock, 2. Liu Taituave, 3. Joe Dakuitoga, 4. Sakaria Noa, 5. Evan Olmstead, 6. Andrew Cox (c), 7. Josh Kaifa, 8. Sililo Savea, 9. Kaleb Rech, 10. Chris Nay, 11. Taqele Naiyaravoro/Moses Tavola, 12. Tom Woods, 13. Larry Hermens, 14. Alex Samoa, 15. Tomu Mataika.

Southern Districts: 1. Tim Metcher, 2. Maile Nguamo, 3. Cameron Betham, 4. Ed Falkingham, 5. Jake Douglas, 6. Andrew Leota, 7. Jono Hayes, 8. Marcus Carbone (c), 9. Chris O’Reilly, 10. Ben Volavola, 11. Jonathan Brown, 12. Apo Latunipulu, 13. Denny Godinet, 14. Luke Smart, 15. Ben Connolly.

Referee: Timothy Wills

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Randwick vs Eastwood –

Wade Kelly has named one of his youngest ever backlines as the Galloping Greens suffer a centres injury crisis of epic proportions.

“We’ve got about 13 or 14 centres who have played First Grade who are out now,” he said.

“Eli Baillie tore his hamstring, Marc Koteczky is out, Kuki Ma’afu is out, William Rees-Hole isn’t back till next week, Tim Wight’s a few weeks away, Ollie Nicholson isn’t back, Pieter Engelbrecht has a broken nose and the list goes on.”

While youthful, there’s a wealth of talent in the side that will run out at Coogee Oval against Eastwood this Saturday. Andrew Kellaway, the highest try-scorer in U-20s World Championship history, starts at 13 while Australian U-20s flyhalf David Horwitz returns at 10. Harry Boileau starts at halfback, Brogan Roods is at inside centre with Andrew Deegan at fullback.

For the second week in succession the side will be captained by prop, Toa Asa, who assumed the role from Sam Figg last week.

“That’s just so he (Figg) can concentrate on his own game,” said Kelly.

“He’s had a heavy workload and Toa was brilliant on the weekend. He doesn’t say a lot but what he says is pretty inspirational. He leads from the front and Figgy played like the weight of the world was off his shoulders.”

By Eastwood coach John Manenti’s own admission, his side was lucky to come away with a win the first time these two sides met this season, and he won’t be taking the fifth placed Wicks lightly.

“We were fortunate to get away with the win the first time around and a similar performance won’t be good enough and we’ll need to score some points down there for sure,” said Manenti.

“It’ll be a bit of a challenge for us with them coming off a good win over Wests and having a couple of their U-20s players back. They’re still one of the better defensive sides in the comp and I saw their draw with Uni a couple of weeks back which was very impressive.”

At this stage of the season, it’s about making minor adjustments and compiling points to overtake Warringah on the ladder.

“We’re not working on one thing more than anything else at this stage, just continual improvement and trying to concentrate for longer periods of time,” said Manenti.

“If we do those things, the scoreboard will look after itself. If anything we’re trying to focus on points against at the moment because points on the board aren’t going too bad.”

Props, Jed Gillespie and Guy Millar come into the starting side as the only changes Manenti makes.

Randwick v Eastwood at Coogee Oval 3:00pm

Randwick: 1. Toa Asa (c), 2. Alex Walker, 3. Tristan Goodbody, 4. Alfred Pinomi, 5. Josh Eden – Whitari, 6. Sam Figg, 7. Tom Connor, 8. Will Munro, 9. Harry Boileau, 10. David Horwitz, 11. Nathan Roye, 12. Brogan Roods, 13. Andrew Kellaway, 14. Ethan Ford, 15. Andrew Deegan.

Eastwood: 1. Jed Gillespie, 2. Hugh Roach, 3. Guy Millar, 4. Jared Barry, 5. Andrew Clyne, 6. Michael Kovacic, 7. Hugh Perrett (c), 8. Pat Sio, 9. Mick Snowden, 10. Jai Ayoub, 11. Nick Batger, 12. Tom Hill, 13. Michael McDougall, 14. John Grant, 15. Ben Batger.

Referee: Damien Mitchelmore

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Penrith v Warringah –

Only Manly and Eastwood have scored more bonus points than Penrith, whose try-scoring prowess sees them sitting higher than Gordon on the table even though the Highlanders have won two more games.

As always, the Emus scored a few last weekend, but inconsistency and discipline let them down in a 44-22 loss to Southern Districts.

“We scored some points and we did well to come back from being down 14-0 to being 17-17 at halftime,” said coach, Teki Tuipulotu.

“All we had to do was dominate that period after halftime and the boys could have gotten up. It’s ill-discipline and mistakes that crept in and caused play to be very much in our half.”

Playing back home this weekend, Pita Tupou is out, Sione Pusi’aki Fifita goes to six and Vai Sosaite comes up from second grade at openside. Impressive fullback Jerome McKenzie has a sprained ankle and will be given until the last minute to prove his fitness.

“We’re back at home this weekend and we matched it with Warringah until the last eight minutes last time we played,” said Tuipulotu.

“We’re hoping to disrupt their winning momentum. Home is always good for us, our spirits are lifted and it’ll be a big travel for them.”

Equal on points with Eastwood, Warringah travel to Nepean knowing that a hiccup could cost them second spot on the ladder.

“I reckon they’re a ten point better team at home and they’ve been a bit of a bogey team for us, I’ve played in a lot of teams that have lost out there,” said coach, Haig Sare.

“We really need to start well because if they get a sniff out there, they turn into a very tough side to beat.”

The Rats dominated the second half of their 26-11 win over Easts last weekend but Sare says the score-line didn’t reflect the improvements the team has made over the last couple of weeks.

“We’re starting to play a little bit better and it’s nearly back to our form at the start of the year,” he said.

“It’s just those final passes that aren’t going to hand yet, but hopefully this weekend we can take that last step and things will start to click again. I thought if the game had gone on another five or ten minutes the flood gates might have opened because they were just holding on there, so that’s something we need to work on.”

Hooker, Luke Holmes will line up for the Brumbies against the Waratahs on Saturday night and is replaced by Robert Kelly while brother, Josh Holmes went off with a cork last weekend but is expected to play.

Penrith v Warringah at Nepean Rugby Park 3:00pm

Penrith: 1. Daniel Arona, 2. Ethan- Robinson Mate (c), 3. Nigel Vaifale, 4. Paea Siualangapo, 5. Senio Toleafoa, 6. Sione Pusi’aki Fifita, 7. Vai Sosaite, 8. Andrew Pelasio, 9. Mike Baysaat, 10. Robbie Mate, 11. Malakai Zelezniak, 12. Ben Kaafi, 13. KJ McKenzie, 14. Josese Toganivalu Sese, 15. Jerome Mckenzie.

Warringah: 1. Richard Southan, 2. Robert Kelly, 3. Wayne Borsak, 4. Sam Crompton, 5. Junior Palau, 6. Martin Collins, 7. Boyd Killingworth, 8. Sam Ward, 9. Joshua Holmes, 10. Hamish Angus (c), 11. Brad Dixon, 12. Tui Tuisavaii, 13. Michael Adams, 14. Sireli Tagicakibau, 15. David Feltscheer.

Referee: Darren Bradley