By MARK CASHMAN

The first week of finals in the 2020 Shute Shield have been run and won and the pecking order has been shaken and stirred after the weekend.

Minor premiers Gordon stumbled their way to a clunky 15-14 win over the sixth placed Randwick while Northern Suburbs came from behind to beat two-time defending premiers Sydney Uni 24-22.

The major upset of the weekend came on Sunday when Eastwood, who finished fifth at the end of the home and away season, beat second placed Eastern Suburbs 29-20 to remain alive for another week.

The results mean that Gordon will play Easts and Norths will take on Eastwood with the winners playing in the grand final on October 31 at Leichhardt Oval.

Here’s how all the game panned out.

GORDON V RANDWICK

Gordon coach Darren Coleman doesn’t reckon that his Highlanders were rewarded enough for their lofty position on the Shute Shield competition ladder at the end of the home and away season.

The Highlanders finished minor premiers and squeaked their way into Week Two of the finals series on the back of a 15-14 win over Randwick on Saturday.

A penalty goal from fly half Rodney Iona in the final couple of minutes got them home in a game where the vast majority of the heavy lifting was done by the Galloping Greens.

Randwick turned themselves around in the space of a week after conceding 81 points against Easts in the final round and on the weekend were physical and robust at the breakdown and really took the Gordon scrum apart throughout the 80 minutes.

“It’s a funny one, I’ve got to admit but I don’t like the playoff system,” Coleman said in the wake of the game.

“The top two teams, Easts and us, played dead rubber matches on the weekend and I reckon that is a tricky thing to overcome.

“Your opponent is desperate and there is that feeling of comfort for the higher seeds in the contest.

“That said it was not an excuse for our poor attacking and set piece performance on Saturday.

“As a coach you watch the game waiting for players to get up uninjured as much as you do watching the score and the Sydney Rugby Union need to re-think that system.”

Randwick made their intention clear early and their defence was first rate and their work at the breakdown was great.

Christian Poidevin and Jeral Skelton led the way in these two areas and the sixth placed side probably deserved a better result on the day.

Randwick were rewarded for their early intent and got out to a 6-0 lead on the back of two penalty goals to fullback Ben Donaldson.

Gordon’s James Widders-Reece then kick started the Highlanders scoring with a try that was converted by Iona to make the score 7-6.

Donaldson got his side in the lead in what was an extremely tense and rumbling nail biter with another penalty goal.

All the while the tension you could feel in and around the Gordon coaching box was translating to the field and the Highlanders grabbed a vital try to Ahmu Tuimalealiifano to give the minor premiers a 12-9 lead.

The deep into there second half Randwick struck through Triston Reilly to score out wide and put the Wicks in the lead at 14-12 with minutes left and the drama around that penalty goal and yellow carding of David Vea.

“Full credit to Randwick for the way that they bounced back from the week before. We had a lot more trouble bending them than Easts did,” Coleman added. 

“They’d be feeling like their season should still be alive but I was super proud how the boys defended under the circumstances. I don’t think anyone’s kept Randwick to one try this season. 

“If you play for each other and you can do amazing things. This group defend for each other. 

“They don’t want to be the guy to let the team down with a missed tackle. 

Tom Silk made 18 tackles in 60 minutes. 

“We are getting better now in the clutch parts of a tight finish. 

“We had none all season now two in a row so I’m hoping that gives us confidence for the next two weeks.”

Randwick had reason to walk away from the game with a lot of well founded what could have been theories.

“We were terribly disappointed with that result. We created enough opportunities to win the game but failed to convert them and on top of that we let them off the hook with some horrible ill discipline,” Randwick coach Ben McCormack said. 

“I thought my forward pack did a great job – Poidevin and Skelton in particular were outstanding. 

“Gordon showed some quality and patience coming back and nailing it late – it going to be an interesting last two weeks.”

GORDON 15 (Ahmu Tuimalealiifano, James Widders-Leece tries; Rodney Iona conversion, pen goal) d RANDWICK 14 (Triston Reilly try; Ben Donaldson 3 pen goals) at Pittwater Rugby Park.

NORTHERN SUBURBS V SYDNEY UNI

The haircut says more chartered accountant than tough as teak backrower but Northern Suburbs wouldn’t swap their No.8 Hugh Sinclair for anyone in the competition.

The 28-year-old Waratahs squad member scored the match-winning try against Sydney Uni as the Shoremen came back from a 22-10 deficit midway through the second half to record a 24-22 win over the two-time defending premiers.

The win means Norths will go through to this weekend’s grand final qualifiers on Sunday against Eastwood and Uni’s chance to do a Shute Shield three-peat are over.

Many of Norths’ old and bold who have gathered behind the goal posts for the past couple of weeks at Pittwater Rugby Park believe that this win over the Students was the biggest performance since the grand final victory back in 2016.

Not once, not twice but three times Norths bounced back with crucial scores just when Uni threatened to pull away with a dominant scrum and seemingly all of the field position.

That was at 8-0, 15-7 and also at 22-10 when they had the chance to add three points but opted to go to the sidelines.

The 28-year-old Sinclair was at the heart of a lot of those bounce backs, driving a lot of the work in defence and carrying the ball well through traffic when it was needed.

Norths centre Nathan Russell continued to have the best season of his emerging career, playing a significant role in the middle of the field with the ball in hand and also been a major stopper when the Uni attack threatened.

The Students scored the first through Josh Kemeny and added another three with a penalty goal to make the score 8-0.

Norths Reece Mau’u then showed his speed from a nicely worked set piece move to draw the Shoremen close at 8-5 and then 8-7 with Angus Sinclair’s conversion.

A penalty try pushed Uni out again to a 15-7 lead and then they were ahead 22-10 with the final quarter of the game looming with a nice try from skipper Rohan O’Regan.

Then the never say die attitude of Norths and the driving influence of Sinclair kicked in to turn things around with a try to back rower Heinrich Brendel and then the Johnny on the spot work of the Norths No.8 gave the final scoreline.

Norths coach Earl Va’a was happy with the work of his side to hang in there and make the most of their chances.

“Yeah it’s great to have another week,” Va’a said.

“Hugh was great throughout the game driving our work in defence. He just works and works and works away.

“I think he got a bit of a shock when he took the pass off ‘Duff’ (Nick Duffy) that led to the try and us getting the lead.

“Elsewhere I thought that we got some good impact off our bench with Max Ma’a, Jayden Lynch and Gary Bautz coming on and making a difference.

“The win showed what can happen if you fight your way through tough times in games, get up off the ground and use the possession you do get well you can make a difference.

“Everyone’s a bit sore from the weekend but we will work away on our set piece and get ready to take on Eastwood.”

“We didn’t panic, we were on the back foot for a lot of that game and obviously our set piece was having some issues,” Norths skipper Harry Burey told the Sunday Telegraph’s Jon Geddes.

“I think opposed to a fortnight ago we hung around and hung around and hung around.”

“We only led for eight minutes of the game, but it was an important eight minutes.” 

He said the team had taken a big step forward, but was not getting carried away, saying they had only earnt the right to play for one more week.

“So the job is not done,” Burey said.

Just like on Sunday the wind was a significant factor with Uni kicking balls dead twice, one of those leading to the Norths try that tightened the game up at 22-17.

Uni coach Michael Hodge said it was disappointing way to end their season.

“We knew Norths would come out hard in the second half but felt we were in a strong position to close out the game. Not to be unfortunately,” Hodge said.

“Still a massive couple of weeks for the club and it will be all hands on deck to make sure all teams are in a strong position.”

The loss though would have cut deep for Uni with many of the club’s major players in deep conversation at the northern end of the ground throughout the Gordon v Randwick game.

NORTHERN SUBURBS 24 (Heinrich Brendel, Hugh Sinclair, Reece Mau’u tries; Angus Sinclair 3 conversions, pen goal) d SYDNEY UNI 22 (Josh Kemeny, Rohan O’Regan tries, penalty try; Stu Dunbar conversion, pen goal) at Pittwater Rugby Park.

EASTERN SUBURBS V EASTWOOD

Eastwood flyhalf Tane Edmed came away from Pittwater Rugby Park with even more admirers after he helped to engineer the Woods somewhat unexpected 29-20 win over Eastern Suburbs on Sunday.

On a weekend where the Shute Shield pecking order was given one hell of shake up Eastwood showed that they were not just there to make up the numbers in this year’s finals series.

The Woodies went at the Beasties at their strengths and gave as good as they got at scrum time and also at the advantage line where the likes of skipper Pat Sio, Sione Tau and Ratu Tuisese were magnificent.

Eastwood’s intentions were signalled early and they kicked a penalty goal and notched up a try from Lachlan Anderson.

All the while Edmed was tinkering away at the edges, kicking to space and constantly taking the right option in both attack and defence.

Edmed moved across from the celebrated Randwick colts system at the start of the year to get more game time at Shute Shield level and it has been a wise decision.

He has been able to develop his game at the right pace and the confidence that he has got from coach Ben Batger and others at TG Millner have been significant.

“I thought it was a really good performance from us as a whole and a typical Eastwood rising to the occasion against more fancied rivals,” Woods coach Ben Batger said.

“I thought our forwards really muscled up and I know the boys enjoyed going up against a pack that included three Super Rugby players. 

“The battle of Rob Leota v Sione Tau and Patty Sio was worth price of admission alone. 

“Then I thought our playmakers really controlled the game in the second half by pinning Easts in their own half. 

“While our centres and wings shut down the speed of easts . 

“It’s a good performance which we will enjoy for 24 hours and then start to focus on what we need to do against Norths.”

The scores were all locked up at 15-all at the break but the rain and the wind at Rat Park stepped in to play a role in this one and the Woods and Edmed played them to a tee.

Tries to Ed Craig and Mark Nawaqanitawase were followed by a penalty try to stretch the lead out to 29-15 and the Woods increasingly dictating the tempo of the game and where it was played on the field.

An intercept from Richie Woolf made the final minutes a little bit more interesting but in the end the game landed just about where it deserved to land.

“Eastwood were great. In particular Tane Edmed. He was outstanding and controlled the game and territory really well in the second half,” Easts coach Pauli Taumoepeau said. 

“We didn’t make life easy on ourselves with errors and we were made to pay for each one of them. That’s finals footy I guess. 

“We’ll learn from today and prep for our next challenge.”

EASTWOOD 29 (Ed Craig, Lachlan Anderson, Mark Nawaqanitawase tries, penalty try; Tane Edmed 2 conversions, pen goal) d EASTERN SUBURBS 20 (Henry Paterson, Alex Newsome, Richie Woolf tries; Daniel Donato conversion, pen goal) at Pittwater Rugby Park. 

IMAGE: ANDREW QUINN / GORDON RUGBY