By MARK CASHMAN

The Prime Minister Scott Morrison is a Southern Districts fan and their No.1 ticket holder but he must have come away from Chatswood Oval on Saturday impressed with the way that Gordon had picked his side apart.

The Highlanders beat the Rebels 56-21 in a fine all round performance that kept the home side undefeated and six points clear at the top of the competition ladder.

But ‘ScoMo’ and his minders got a first hand look at how good the Highlanders are in 2020 as they scored sevens tries and had the game pretty much parcelled up in the first 20 minutes.

The PM sat on the sidelines with a beer in hand and chatted with the Gordon ball boys who must have headed home with quite a story to tell.

Gordon coach Darren Coleman had been a bit twitchy about his depth at tight head prop after losing two the week before against Randwick but the home side scrum went okay and there will be reinforcements arriving soon.

Sean Dillon was yellow carded at one stage in the second half against a scrum that pretty handy but overall put in a good performance.

The scrums did go uncontested at one stage and that probably was decision that gave the Highlanders more pay than Souths.

The Highlanders led 42-7 just after the halftime break and that signalled a rally from Souths with a couple of tries but their cards were marked and tries to Robbie Abel and Mahe Vailanu gave the final scoreline.

Vailanu played in the back row and was continue throe in Souths side scoring two tries and putting on some great hits in defence.

Coleman said: “I was pleased with the clinical nature of our first 45 minutes where we led 42-7 against a team that I believe is very good.

“Souths were very physical and I’m sure if they had a few more of their key troops in there on Saturday the scoreline would have been a lot closer.

“Their scrum with Tetera Faulkner joining them now will cause headaches for other teams going forward.

“Once again Mahe (Vailanu), Harrison Goddard and Rodney Iona’s control were standouts and I can’t wrap their consistency enough.”

Coleman said It was great to have Robbie and Jake Abel back in the tartan jersey adding that Joey Walton had returned an even more accomplished player than when he left.

“It sets up what will be a perfect derby day next week against a Norths team that knows how to win,” he said.

Souths coach Todd Louden says that Gordon are the team to beat for the premiership.

“‘DC’ (Coleman), ’BM’ (Brian Melrose) and the coaching staff have them primed and very well organised around their halves,” Louden said.

“They have critical depth across their team outside of maybe props and our scrum started to make good traction until they went uncontested.

“We have just been riddled with injuries that has decimated the team since Uni.

“If we can get some consistency with team members and get some solid training we will start to make some headway in the last four games.

“The bright side is we have created a lot of depth moving forward into backend of the season and 2021 so depth won’t be an issue next season.

“The number of debutants we have had this year in first grade has been huge and rewarding.”

GORDON 56 (Brandon Fa’avae-eli, Robbie Abel, Mahe Vailanu 2, Ahmu Tuimalealiifano, Joey Walton, Oliver Smeallie tries; Rodney Iona 7 conversions, Reece MacDonald conversion) d SOUTHERN DISTRICTS 21 (Andrew Tuala, Daniel Bell, Laurence Tominiko tries; Chris Kagiassis 3 conversions).

IMAGE: ANDREW QUINN / GORDON RUGBY