By MARK CASHMAN

The Shute Shield got off to a flying start with Sydney Uni, Gordon, Randwick, Northern Suburbs, Manly and Southern Districts all recording victories.

Here’s how all the games panned out!

WARRINGAH V SYDNEY UNI at Pittwater Rugby Park

Winning is a good habit to have and Sydney Uni started their 2020 Shute Shield campaign with just that after their 36-27 win over Warringah on Saturday.

While the execution and synergy may not have been there at times the Students showed that they know how to negotiate testing times.

Uni opened the scoring and at one stage were up 19-6 only for the Rats, in front of a handy Covid-19 affected crowd, hit back.

Tries to Charlie Tupo and Tom Halse got them back into the encounter and it looked likely to edge the home side’s way when Nic Champion de Crespigny was yellow carded just after the break.

The students were able to minimise the bleeding from de Crespigny’s indiscretion and they nudged ahead from there it was in the end a throbbing grand final replay encounter.

Uni coach Michael Hodge told the SMH: “It certainly wasn’t perfect and in general I walked away from that game pretty happy.

“Coming away from Rat Park at any stage with a win is always good and they have had a recent history of winning these ones.

“We were under pressure at different times, our launch plays were disrupted a bit but we were calm on the field through those times and that was what I liked most about the afternoon up there.

“Our on field leaders managed things well which looking forward is a good thing.

“There is no rest we have a big game against manly at home so we can’t dine out on that win for too long.”

Only skipper Rohan O’Regan and fullback Tim Clements were there from last year’s grand final winning side with much of the packing on shift further up the system at the Waratahs.

Warringah were hamstrung at different times by a misfiring line out and they also struggled to get out of their own half with any fluency.

It was an interesting encounter and these two teams will be there or thereabouts once the Shute Shield gets to the pointy end.

Warringah coach Mike Ruthven said: “I was as happy as you can be coming away from a loss. The boys had a real and there are no questions about their intent or commitment.

“There were just a few critical moments throughout the game that we didn’t manage well.

“At times we found a good rhythm in attack but there is still some work to do in and around our defence and the systems that he were using.

“But overall happy that we have made progress from the trial we had against Gordon.”

SYDNEY UNI 36 (Nic Champion de Crespigny, Connor O’Shea, Will McDonnell, Jack McCalman tries; O’Shea 2 conversions, James Kane 2 conversions, 1 pen goal) d WARRINGAH 27 (Tom Halse, Charlie Tupu, Robert Kelly tries; Halse 3 conversions, 1 pen goal)

GORDON EASTERN SUBURBS at Chatswood Oval

Gordon came out of the blocks quickly and showed that they are the real deal in 2020 following their classy 35-24 win over Eastern Suburbs last Saturday.

The Highlanders jumped to a 17-point lead after the first 30 minutes and then pretty much went tit for that in what ended up being quite an entertaining game.

This same game has oodles of bad memories for this Gordon group after a late try to Easts skipper and scrum half Jack Grant saw the Highlanders miss out on finals footy last year.

Gordon coach Darren Coleman said: “First impressions were overall pleasing.

“Like any match two weeks in there is plenty of polish to put on but I can’t fault the boys endeavour on Saturday.

“Most pleasing was we led by 13 points with with about 15 minutes to go. Last year they ran us down killed our season this year we kept the gap.

“That indicates that this team is growing and getting better at winning.

“The front row played tough. Jordie Goddard had a captain’s knock as always and the backs were a handful when they got decent ball.

“I feel we are in a good and we will continue to grow.”

Easts coach Pauli Taumoepaui said ill discipline was costly for his side right through the game.

“Gordon were able to create opportunities on their own and then it didn’t help when we were aiding them field position early on.

“Gordon seem to be the real deal, but that’s not surprising. Well coached and players hungry to build on their 2019.”

GORDON 35 (Jaline Graham, Tautalatasi Tasi, Brandon Quinn, Jordan Goddard tries; Rodney Iona 3 pen goals, 3 conversions) d EASTERN SUBURBS 24 (Moli Sooaemalelagi, Sam Shires, Charlie Smith, Richie Woolf tries).

MANLY MARLINS V WESTERN SYDNEY TWO BLUES at Manly Oval

The Manly Marlins overcame a number of substantial hurdles as the eked out a tough 28-5 win over the Western Sydney Two Blues on Saturday.

The setbacks started late on Friday when skipper and fullback James Ohmsen was culled out the match after picking up a knock in the final minutes of training on Thursday night.

Fine, those things happen but they continued minutes into the match against the Two Blues when flyhalf Sam Lane couldn’t continue after dislocating his shoulder.

On came BJ Hartmann who had just played a full game in the Colin Caird Shield fixture and although at times it was pretty ugly they got the job done.

The Marlins ended up scoring four tries to one and iced what must be considered a very hand bonus point.

Manly coach Matt McGoldrick said: “It was a crazy, crazy week but we showed a lot of character and resilience to get the win.

“In the end I was happy with our commitment out there. We just needed to weather the early onslaught and we thought after that we’d end up getting away with it.

“Harry Bergelin had a good game as always and Max Douglas and BJ Hartmann performed really well in the unexpected circumstances.”

MANLY 28 ( Max Douglas 2, Adam Crerar, Ivan Fepuleai tries; BJ Hartmann 1 conversion, 2 pen goals) d WESTERN SYDNEY TWO BLUES 5 (Sione Fifita try)

RANDWICK V HUNTER WILDFIRES at Coogee Oval

Randwick sat atop the Shute Shield ladder after their 50-7 win over the Hunter Wildfires on Saturday.

The Galloping Greens scored eight tries to one which in many people’s minds would show that the Wildfires were outclassed in their return to footy in the big smoke.

But that certainly wasn’t the case with the visitors scoring a decent try, peppering the Randwick breakdown right through the game and hanging in there all afternoon.

Randwick coach Ben McCormack said: “Yeah it was a decent day for us. We started well and played good field position early which they struggled a bit with.

“Our line out dominated and we took plenty of steals on their ball which disrupted their rhythm. They were competitive though and will grow.

“Our best were lock Den Hoedt, Dave Horwitz at flyhallf and Locky Miller at fullback.”

Wildfires coach Scott Coleman said: “The scoreline didn’t read well but I think we’ll learn a lot of lessons from that and what we’ve got to compete with.

“One of the main positives out of it all was that our boys never gave up. It was 7-all for the last 15 minutes and a lot of those kind of games can really blow out with 20-plus points at the end.”

Coleman added lineouts and one-one-one defence were work on areas.

“We lost six out of our eight so we were just giving up the ball. We missed 23 tackles as well, that’s far too many for this level,” he said.

“They are pretty easy things to fix and if we fix those we’re back in the contest.”

RANDWICK 50 ( David Vea, Kyle Harris, Ryan Powter, Jackson Mohi 2, Henry Hutchison, Christian Yassmin, Locky Miller tries; Dave Horwitz 4 conversions) d HUNTER WILDFIRES 7 (Lachlan Miller try; Taulogo Lalaga conversion)

SOUTHERN DISTRICTS V EASTWOOD at Forshaw Rugby Park

Southern Districts pulled off probably the surprise result of the first round when they motored home to beat fancied Eastwood 34-15 on Saturday.

The Woods are considered to be one of the front runners for the premiership but in a knock ‘em down drag ‘em out encounter were overwhelmed late in this game.

Two yellow cards (rugby league recruit Tim Simona and Chris Bell) didn’t help the Eastwood cause but they managed to stay in touch and the score at half time had the Rebels ahead 14-12.

But the second half was a different kettle of fish and Souths were able to out enthuse the visitors at Forshaw who were honoured to have the Prime Minister and local Federal member Scott Morrison kick off.

Rebels coach Todd Louden said: “I thought it was very much like one of those heavyweight boxing matches.

“There was plenty of rust out there particularly in the first half but both sides were on the lookout for any weaknesses.

“Things really opened up in the second half and we were able to come away with the result.

“Eastwood are a side that will be there or thereabouts as the season matures. What we saw from them on the weekend certainly wasn’t the finished product.”

Souths have the bye this week but they will be searching for an appropriate replacement with skipper Marcus Carbone hobbling off with an ACL injury that looks like it will end his season.

“Losing Marcus will be hard but we have options in Nick Brown and possibly Jed Holloway coming back from the Waratahs,” Louden added.

Another league recruit Harry McLennan ended up scoring two tries in a solid all round effort while Will Latu in the centres and Daniel Bell at fullback showed out.

Eastwood coach Ben Batger said: “It was as simple as this, they turned up to play and we didn’t.

“A lot of people look at us and think that we should just click right from the word go but we’ve got a lot of new players in our side and it just takes time.

“From last year’s group we have a new fullback, two wingers, a new 10, seven and five as well as a new three and we have lost four locks in the course of the past month.

“We’ve just got to get over it. Cry for the first 24 hours and then go about making the changes that need to be made.”

SOUTHERN DISTRICTS 34 (James Wayland, Harry McLennan 2, Christian Kagiassis, Liam Dwyer tries; Kagiassis 3 conversions, 1 pen goal) d EASTWOOD 19 (Matthew Gonzalez, Lachlan Shelley, Enoka Muliufi tries; Tane Edmed 2 conversions)

WEST HARBOUR V NORTHERN SUBURBS at Drummoyne Oval

A winning dressing room is always a nice place to visit after a game but there was a certain edge to the Northern Suburbs rooms after their 32-3 win over West Harbour on Saturday.

You see it’s been more than a year since the Norths’ victory song has been sung and to take a line from that ditty “they were making a lot noise”

Norths scored four tries to nil against Wests and secured a very handy early season bonus point to lie in second spot on the competition table after the weekend, but all concerned knew that the scoreline didn’t reflect what had gone on in the preceding 80 minutes.

Wests selected a huge pack of forwards and much of the first half was dotted with good carries from the home side and resolve in defence from the visitors.

But the red card to Wests backrower Francis Ieremia tipped the game very much in Norths favour, but it took some time for the visitors reasonably inexperienced lineup to wear them down.

Norths led 11-3 with 10 minutes left on the clock and Rod Davies appeared to have scored a try but it was ruled to be held up which would have meant “game on”.

From there Norths scored three tries in the final eight minutes to give the final scoreline.

Norths coach Earl Va’a said: “We achieved what we wanted to achieve and that was to get the win but the for sure the scoreline didn’t reflect what West Harbour brought to the table.

“They put us under pressure at different times but at this time of the season that’s how a lot of games pan out.

“Our last eight minutes showed the character and fight in the boys. The challenge now is to make that sort of thing happen from the first minute.

“It was a great improvement from our trial against Eastwood and the boys have taken on the learnings from that game.”

Wests coach Mark Gudmunson said: “Unfortunately people will just look at the score and make their own decisions on the game, but for the people that were there, they would tell a totally different story.

“The result was very tough to take when I look at how hard out guys worked to stay in the game with 14 players until pure fatigue kicked in.

“I thought our two centres Justin Tavae at 12 and Connor Chittenden at 13 were really good. Kaliova Nacina our No.7 worked really hard all day.”

NORTHERN SUBURBS 32 (Jayden Lynch, Brad Hemopo, George Murrin, Connor Winchester tries; Angus Sinclair 2 pen goals, Winchester 3 conversions) d WEST HARBOUR 3 (Kodie Drury-Hawkins pen goal)

PENRITH EMUS had the bye