Shute Shield: Gordon out of the blocks well, Randwick show credentials v Wests

 

By MARK CASHMAN

Gordon coach Brian Melrose walked into Manly Oval on Saturday expecting what he thought would be a “dangerous game” for his Highlanders but little did he know how things would play out over the next couple of hours.

The Highlanders started their defence of the Shute Shield with a 12 tries to two thrashing of a Manly Marlins that will have some serious soul searching to do this week.

Scrumhalf Jacob Abel scored a hat-trick of tries as did fullback Ben Pollack and the club’s four first grade debutants all contributed significantly to the 78-10 victory.

Those debutants were the Highlanders’ back three in Pollack, Mike Pavlakis and Alesana Pohla as well as hooker Will Bremner.

“Yeah I thought that this one would be a dangerous game so it was good to get a win there (at Manly Oval),” Melrose told Rugby News.

“We played well but from our point of view things turned out a bit better than we expected.

“Manly are always hard to beat at home so you always go there knowing that if you don’t get it right you’ll finish second.

“I was nervous coming into this game and expected that it would be anything but the way it turned out.”

The Highlanders in fact had put 66 points on the Marlins before Ben Crerar troubled the scoreboard attendant.

James Parker followed not long after but Gordon had the last word when Pollack completed his hat-trick in the shadows off full-time.

Manly coach Matt McGoldrick was a shattered man after the game, as was the entire Marlins community.

“It was embarrassing,” he told colleague Matt Cleary at the Northern Beaches Sports Tribune. “And we spoke about it. It was our ground, our fans, our people, our sponsors. They deserved better.”

“We had a good week, a good couple of weeks getting ready. There was a lack of connection in D. There wasn’t a lack of effort, we just weren’t connected. It was a bit frustrating, to be honest.

“There are some things you can do on the field which don’t require a great deal of talent. One of those is talking, working with your team-mates. We’ve got a bit of work to do.”

GORDON 78 (Jacob Abel 3, Ben Pollack 3, Jordan Goddard Mike Pavlakis, Tom Silk, Lucas Price, Alesan Pohla, Manasa Rokosuka; Reece MacDonald 8 conversions, Pollack conversion) d MANLY MARLINS 10 (James Parker, Ben Crerar tries) at Manly Oval.

When Rugby News chatted with Randwick’s big off-season recruit Chris Eves last week he spoke of the speed at which the footy in Sydney is played and how he was keen to hand the ball to his backs “as long as they scored the points”.

Well the big Kiwi who has had seven appearances for the Maori All Blacks and a Super Rugby career that saw him play at the Hurricanes and the Sunwolves, wasn’t in the mood to hand it over at different stages of the Wicks 52-17 win over West Harbour on Saturday.

The 33-year-old scored two tries early in the game at Drummoyne Oval and showed that he will be a handful for opposition teams at scrum time and also with the ball in hand.

Eves’ double saw the visitors dash out to an early lead even though Wests were applying some pressure through their vert good scrum.

They lead 26-0 before Wests were able to get on the board with a try from winger Toti Mafi. From then on things went a bit more tit for tat with Randwick always edging further away to the final scoreline.

Randwick coach Ben McCormack was happy with his side’s control throughout the 80 minutes.

“The lads went well, scrum was a decent arm wrestle but otherwise I thought we controlled most of the game,” McCormack said.

“The contact was willing so there will be some sore bodies this morning. Chris Eves, Chris Yassmin, Kristian Jensen and Tom Piroddi were all very good.

“Nobody was poor really so all in all happy enough for a Round One game. We move on now for the game against Warringah at Rat Park.”

Wests coach Mark Gudmunson came away impressed with what the Galloping Greens brought to the table.

“Randwick are good mate, I have said in the past that they were a Top Four team and after seeing them close up on the weekend they are capable of finishing in the Top Two,” he said.

“We were just a little off and that is what happens in the Shute Shield.

“Our lineout was poor in both attack and defence and we were a little lazy in our defensive folds and our attacking skill was not good enough.

“We were in my view two runs short of being ready, unfortunately the weather played its part in trial season, but we will build.

“It is not time to throw the toys out. We know what this team can do.

Injuries in the game played a part, but I thought the reserves that came on did their job.

Our scrum was dominant, we showed glimpses of skill in our 13 Faiva Faiva and our winger Toti Mafi. I thought Shaun Dixon at 7 did not stop all day.

We need to learn from Round 1 and quickly move to Uni in Round 2, can’t hold onto it for too long.

RANDWICK 52 (Mitch Short, Chris Eves 2, Christian Yassim 2, Jackson Mohi, Zac Shepherd, Valance Yates; Ben Donaldson 4 conversions, Liam O’Connell 2 conversions) d WEST HARBOUR 17 (Toti Mafi, Chris Ebeling, Dimitry Chipizubov tries; Kodie Drury-Hawkins conversion)

IMAGE: ANDREW QUINN / GORDON RUGBY



error: Content is protected !!