Dave Dennis will be back in action for the Students this weekend. Photo: Paul Seiser.

by Brendan Bradford –

Northern Suburbs v Sydney University at North Sydney Oval Saturday, 21 June 1:00pm

It was a familiar story for Norths coach Scott Fava last weekend against Eastwood. A slow start punctuated by a couple of instances of weak defence saw the Shoremen trail 18-0 early in the first half. A mid-game fight-back narrowed the gap to 32-26 just after halftime, but a clinical Eastwood outfit got the job done with a three-try spurt in the final quarter.

“Once again, we let a side get too many points at the start and had to try chasing it down,” Fava said.

“We came back into it for a while and the boys were looking good, but some of the tries Eastwood scored were soft. They weren’t doing anything really special, just running hard lines and we couldn’t stop them. And up front they set up a nice driving maul which gave it to them on a platter. It’s those simple attitude areas that we need to shore up.”

New Melbourne Rebels recruit Cam Crawford on the run for Norths. Photo: Jock Cameron

It’ll be more of the same against Sydney University this weekend for Norths but Fava sees it as an opportunity for his players to step up against a pack containing a host of Super Rugby talent.

“They’ll have a few Waratahs players back but it’s a challenge for us,” he said.

“You can either buckle under the pressure or man up and show what you’re worth as a First grade player. That’s basically what it is. These guys have class and the challenge for us is to play the way we want to play, execute it and not be dictated to by Uni.”

Fullback Mitch Walton is out with a shoulder injury with Jack Grant coming into the side as the only change Fava has made.

Uni coach Chris Malone knows Norths are desperate to right the wrongs of the last two weeks, but will again have considerable talent and experience at his disposal. While props Jeremy Tilse and Paddy Ryan aren’t playing, Waratahs captain Dave Dennis is back in the pack with Pat McCutcheon and Tolu Latu turning out again. The Super Rugby influence was a telling factor in the Students’ 52-17 win over Parramatta at home last weekend.

“We benefitted from a strong set-piece and a bit of fire-power up front and it was good to see them come back to rip in,” said Malone.

“Our defence was pretty good and we improved from the week before, but we know Norths will be licking their wounds and they’ll be after us.”

Not only do returning Super players add a weight of experience on the paddock, but they allow regular starters a bit of a rest – a vital element this year as there are no byes due to the compressed competition structure.

“Sam Talakai comes  back in at prop, we started him on the bench last week as we’re trying to give guys a rest when we can,” said Malone.

“Dave Dennis is going to play in the second-row to get in him in the engine-room cleaning out rucks ready for the Waratahs next week.”

After getting injured in the Club Championships in Brisbane before the season started, Mike Tyler will make his First Grade debut at loosehead prop. With little separating Uni from second-placed Warringah and third-placed Eastwood, Malone knows every point is vital as the season enters the back stretch.

“We’re still around a win and a loss off each other so if one of us slips up we’ll get a chance,” he said.

“We’ve got Norths this week then West Harbour before Eastswood so we just need to keep ourselves in contention for the end of the season.”

Northern Suburbs: 1. Kevin McNamara, 2. Will Weeks, 3. Nick Lah (c), 4. Sev Domoni, 5. Ben Matwijow, 6. James Cunningham, 7. Will Miller, 8. Michael Wells, 9. Christian Cage, 10. Jack Grant, 11. Richard Woolf, 12. Michael Freeman, 13. Jac Cameron, 14. Tom Redden, 15. Cam Crawford.

Sydney University: 1. Mike Tyler, 2. Tolu Latu, 3. Sam Talakai, 4. Tom Boidin (c), 5. David Dennis, 6. James Nonu-Carling, 7. David Hickey, 8. Patrick McCutcheon, 9. Jake Gordon, 10. Daniel Kelly, 11. Henry Clunies-Ross, 12. Tom Carter, 13. Chris Ingate, 14. James Dargaville, 15. Jack Macklin.

Referee: Anthony Moyes

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Eastwood v Gordon at T.G.Millner Field 1:25pm

Eastwood captain Hugh Perrett scores against Norths last weekend. Photo: PL6 Photography.

Eastwood are third on the table, one point behind Warringah and three clear of Sydney University, but coach John Manenti isn’t satisfied. That’s probably fair enough considering his side has won the Minor Premiership for the last couple of years in a row. He also isn’t taking much notice of his team’s Round 2 70-12 drubbing of Gordon in April.

“You can talk about that game but we’re trying to focus on us and not get too distressed by what’s in front because basically we have to beat all-comers at this stage,” he said.

“We’re still in third spot which is not where we want to be and we need to win. The reality is both teams have changed a fair bit since then and I’m expecting they’ll be a better outfit. In terms of comparisons, we beat Gordon, Gordon beats Easts and Easts beat us so those scores don’t really matter to me and the players will be complacent at the own risk.”   

As they attempt to close the gap on Warringah and maintain a lead on Uni, the Woods will have Benn Robinson at prop while Dylan Brass starts at tighthead as Manenti attempts to freshen up some of his regular starters.

“There’s a lot to improve and we’re trying to give a few guys a rest when we can, but last week we went out to a big lead and took the foot off the throttle a little bit,” he said.

“I’d like to see us start putting some big scores on sides.”

The Highlanders claimed their third win of the season with a convincing 47-20 defeat of Penrith last weekend in a match coach Geoff Townsend said finally allowed his side to play with some freedom.

“We haven’t been disappointed with our guys too often this season and we’ve set the standard pretty high,” said coach Geoff Townsend.

“We got some set-piece dominance around the scrum and lineout from about 25 minutes and were able to let Tommy Matthews, Quinny (Brandon Quinn) and Matt McDougall a bit of a time out wide. It’s good for our inexperienced forward pack too to start getting some rewards for all their work.”

The win lifts Gordon out of last place, but it will be a tougher ask away to Eastwood this weekend with the side still smarting from the heavy defeat to the Woods in Round 2.

“We were well and truly underdone and weren’t ready for what they threw at us,” Townsend said of their first meeting this season.

“I think we’re better equipped this time around, and we’ve shown bits and pieces but haven’t really put it all together for extended periods. It’s a challenge to get better every week and that will be important this weekend because we’re up against a team that’s as good as anyone in the competition. But if we play well enough and put ourselves in the position, who knows what the result might be.”

Townsend has named an unchanged starting side but will make a call on a few players with bumps and bruises on Thursday.

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

Gordon: 1. Tobias Gukibau, 2. Ron Hobden, 3. Nick Fraser, 4. Ruiraidh Wilson, 5. Luke Heavey, 6. Jack Maguire, 7. Mitch Greenway, 8. Johnno Broome, 9. Terry Preston (c), 10. Henry Carmichael, 11. Brandon Quinn, 12. Tom Matthews, 13. Matt McDougall, 14. Sione Ala, 15. Xavier McCoy.

Referee: Tim Wills

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Southern Districts v Penrith at Forshaw Rugby Park 1:25pm

Southern Districts fullback Richie Williams. Photo: Pat Dunne

Last weekend Southern Districts gave Manly the best challenge they’ve had in a few rounds and kept the table topping Marlins scoreless through the opening half an hour. Coach Matt Barr was pleased with the form the relatively inexperienced side produced and is hoping to develop it against the Emus this Saturday.

“On reflection I was pretty happy because we had a new front row, a new second-rower and a change in the back-row and against a Manly side whose strength is their forward pack, I thought we matched them quite well,” said Barr, who believes Penrith will offer a different threat.  

“We continued to make too many mistakes and didn’t execute a lot of our structures and we’re going to need to start getting those things right – especially against Penrith who like that more unstructured play and have been a bit of a bogey team for us.”

After being pulled out at the last minute last weekend, Waratahs lock Kane Douglas is back in the starting side and will captain the team in what Barr says could be one of his last outings as a Rebel before leaving for Ireland.

“Depending on how the Waratahs go, it could be the last opportunity he has to play for Southern Districts,” said Barr.

“Jed Holloway picked up an ankle injury, so Kane is the captain. He’s been great for the club as long as I’ve been here and what he’ll bring in terms of his leadership and as a player is immeasurable. Hopefully we can make it a good occasion.”

Douglas replaces his younger brother Jake in the second-row while Marcus Carbone switches from lock to No. 8, Jono Hayes from openside to blindside and Kieran Black comes back in the number seven jersey after a calf injury ruled him out last weekend.

The Emus were unable to kick on after their defeat of Norths two weeks ago and went down 47-20 to Gordon at Chatswood Oval last weekend. The loss, says coach Teki Tuipulotu, came down to complacency.

“It was very disappointing to be honest,” he said.

“It was just the hunger and the urgency that was missing and I noticed it right from the warm up which isn’t a good feeling. It goes back to our performance against Sydney Uni in Round 1 when we did very well, but the boys thought West Harbour the week after was going to be easy.”

Penrith have tasted success at Forshaw Park a couple of times over the past few years and Tuipulotu had a simple remedy for last week’s woes.

“We need the hunger back and we need to be more urgent,”

“We need to be very clinical in our execution because we have won once or twice there and every week is a contest if we can execute our game-plan.”

Winger Peni Narube is out with a broken hand and will be replaced by Toganivalu Sese while Ben Kaafi comes in at 12. Openside flanker John Waititi is also injured and will be replaced by Sione Pusi’aki Fifita while Pita Tupou is at No.8.

Southern Districts: 1. Marcus Heather, 2. Maile Nguamo, 3. Cameron Betham, 4. Andrew Leota, 5. Kane Douglas (c), 6. Jono Hayes, 7. Keiran Black, 8. Marcus Carbone, 9. Chris O’Reilly, 10. Ben Volavola, 11. Faleula Finau, 12. Ollie Samuela, 13. Denny Godinet, 14. Ben Connelly, 15. Rohan Saifoloi.  

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

Referee: Ian Smith