Parramatta travel to Manly to face a rampant Marlins side this Sunday. Photo: Debbie O’Connor

by Brendan Bradford –

West Harbour v Randwick at Concord Oval 1:00pm LIVE ON ABC TV

West Harbour coach Matt Briggs has selected the soft hands and skillful touch of Sai Vakarau at flyhalf against Randwick in what will be the Pirates’ first TV game of the season. In the absence of Dave Harvey, Vakarau made an instant impact off the bench against Easts last weekend with a few probing runs at the line, a couple of off-loads and a near-perfect chip-kick to the wing as Wests struggled to claw their way back from a big deficit.

“While Alofa played admirably at ten last week, I think he’s best when we give him a bit of space and Sai came on and I couldn’t ask too much more of him so he’s probably the guy we’ll stick with,” said Brigss.

“He’s a very accomplished player in his own right and he’s getting his opportunity to consolidate his spot as a regular First Grader. It’s our first TV game of the year and not that we have that as a factor at training but in the back of the guys’ minds they’ll want to do well.”

Alofa Alofa switches from flyhalf to fullback this weekend. Photo: Fabio Trippa

Just one point separates the sides and a win for either outfit will be a huge bonus on the ladder. A fact not lost on Briggs.

“It’s all about us owning our own results and putting last week behind us,” he said.

“Last week was a bit of a wake up call, but we’re really focusing on ourselves and it’s up to us to step up and be good enough to extinguish their attacking raids, focus on our defence and be patient with the ball on the attacking zones. All things being equal, knocking them off with a bonus point would be very nice.”

Alofa Alofa reverting to fullback is the only change Briggs makes, with Rory Sidey and Usaia O’Sullivan in the centres and David Osofua at halfback.

Randwick’s 24-19 loss to Warringah last weekend came down to a couple of crucial mistakes, but it was a promising performance against the second-placed side. With a tenuous hold on sixth place ahead of the Pirates and Southern Districts, the Galloping Greens need to start turning promising performances into points on the board and a loss this weekend will see the Pirates leapfrog them into finals contention.

“This is it for us basically. If we don’t win this one, then maybe we don’t deserve to be in the finals,” said coach Wade Kelly.

“It’s been like that since about round seven or eight and you have to keep grabbing points, even if they’re bonus points, to keep yourself alive. But we’re just keeping our heads above the water and it’s must win at the moment.”

Second-rower Alfred Pinomi will re-join the starting side in a showdown with his old club while last year’s Australian Schoolboys flyhalf, Andrew Deegan, will start at fullback as Ethan Ford reverts to the wing. Waratahs Matt Carraro and Stephen Hoiles will start at outside centre and No.8 respectively as the Wicks seek some momentum going into the final rounds of competition.

West Harbour: 1. Michael Ala’alatoa, 2. Ryan Dalziel, 3. Dave Lolohea, 4. Chris Simons, 5. Harrison Orr, 6. Tom Games (c), 7. Cohen Masson, 8. Matt Coles, 9. David Osofua, 10. Sai Vakarau, 11. Tito Mua, 12. Rory Sidey, 13. Usaia O’Sullivan, 14. Joel Brooks, 15. Alofa Alofa.

Randwick: 1. Toa Asa (c), 2. Alex Walker, 3. Tristan Goodbody, 4. Alfred Pinomi, 5. Josh Eden – Whitari, 6. Sam Figg, 7. Tom Connor, 8. Stephen Hoiles, 9. Harry Boileau, 10. Marc Koteczky, 11. Eli Bailie, 12. William Rees – Hole, 13. Matt Carraro, 14. Ethan Ford, 15. Andrew Deegan.

Referee: Richard Goswell

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Warringah v Eastern Suburbs at Pittwater Rugby Park 7:15pm

Marty Collins gets an offload away against Randwick last weekend. Photo: Karen Watson.

Warringah maintained their second spot on the ladder with a hard fought win over Randwick last Saturday and host an Easts side fresh off a confidence boosting win over West Harbour. Warringah are undefeated at home this year and Rat Park’s status as a fortress for the club celebrating its 50th year has only strengthened.

“It’s great playing here with all the supporters and the local community behind us and we’ve got a good group of guys down here,” said forward Martin Collins who scored a try against the Galloping Greens last weekend.

“I’ve just come back from injury and the other 14 guys out there really make it easier for me to perform.”

Collins’ return, alongside Sam Ward, beefs up an already imposing forward pack which has been a major improvement for the Rats this year. With danger from Josh Holmes at halfback through to Dave Feltscheer at 15, this Warringah side has every chance of going deep into the finals in August.

Injuries to Brendan McKibbin and Jono Lance and the absence of Seilala Lam has robbed Easts of one of the most dangerous sides in the competition this weekend, but coach Campbell Aikten is confident his youthful charges can get the job done at Rat Park.

McKibbin picked up an injury at Waratahs training early in the week while Lam is at the World Club Tens in Singapore with Steve Shapland coming in at halfback and Clarrie Moore starting at hooker. Elsewhere, Warwick Percival will start on the wing while youngster Archie King partners captain Anton La Vin in the centres.

“Losing the guys of Brendan and Jono’s calibre is a big loss, but it gives some younger guys the opportunity,” said Aitken who will be able to play Waratah Mitch Chapman for the first time this year.

“I’m still pretty positive about it and I have full confidence of the guys coming in. Mitch will start on the blindside and will play for as long as possible, but we have Richard Stanford waiting on the bench, so that’s not too bad.”

The Beasties’ impressive win over West Harbour last weekend left them on 22 points and within striking range of the Pirates and Southern Districts who each have 27, but they need to start winning consistently to have a chance of making the top six at the start of August.

“We’ve got nothing to fear heading up there and things have changed since we played them earlier in the year and we’ll definitely give it a crack,” said Aitken.

“Their back three are particularly dangerous and Haig’s got them playing some really attractive rugby and we’ll have to watch where kick it.”

Warringah: 1. Richard Southan, 2. Luke Holmes (c), 3. Wayne Borsak, 4. Ben Adams, 5. Junior Palau, 6. Martin Collins, 7. Boyd Killingworth, 8. Sam Ward, 9. Joshua Holmes, 10. Hamish Angus, 11. Harry Jones, 12. Tui Tuisavaii, 13. Michael Adams, 14. Sireli Tagicakibau, 15. David Feltscheer.  

Eastern Suburbs: 1. Cooper Chapman, 2. Clarrie Moore, 3. Clay Brodie, 4. Gab Passmore, 5. Phil Mathers, 6. Mitch Chapman, 7. Ben Willis, 8. Tala Gray, 9. Steve Shapland, 10. Sam Windsor, 11. Will Paterson, 12. Archie King, 13. Anton La Vin (c), 14. Warwick Percival, 15. Darcy Etrich.

Referee: Jamie McGregor

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Manly v Parramatta at Manly Oval Sunday 22 June, 3:00pm

Try-scoring machine and Manly flanker Harry Bergelin.Photo: Carl Peterson

The Marlins were made to work for their win over Southern Districts last weekend, but coach Phil Blake said it’s exactly what the team needs at this stage of the season.

“There were a very tough opposition and the biggest thing for us was that we held ourselves together and were prepared to stay in the fight and grind it out,” Blake said.

“It looked like a convincing win but in reality we were made to work for it and that’s exactly what we want at this stage of the year. We want every side to challenge us, the last thing we need over the next six weeks is to rack up cricket scores. That’s not going to do us any good. We want a challenge because that will make us more resilient and better prepared for the back end of the year.”

Blake has named the same starting side as last week with Scott Daruda at flyhalf, Greg Peterson at lock and a front-row of Mitch Lewis, Dave Porecki and Chris Cocca against a Parramatta side with a very different playing style to Southern Districts.

“They’re a side capable of scoring plenty of points, they’ve got a bit of flair about them and they like to play football,” said Blake.

“They’re fifth on the table and have had some fantastic results this year, so it’s great to see the club turn it around and become a force and and they’ll pose different questions to what Souths did.”

After three wins on the trot, travelling to Uni last weekend was always going to be a tough ask for the Two Blues – even more so given the heavy hitters the Students called on.

“It was always going to be an uphill battle at scrums with Tolu Latu, Jeremy Tilse and Paddy Ryan coming and McCutcheon at the base,” said coach Gerrard Fasavalu.

“I think guys tried to go out and get a one-up in personal battles with those professional guys and I’ll put my hand up and take that on the chin for us going away from the game-plan. In saying that, it was a good learning experience for the individuals and the collective group because after three on the trot we might have been getting ahead of ourselves and hopefully we’ll be better for it.”

It doesn’t get any easier for fifth placed Parramatta this Sunday at the Village Green and Fasavalu has named the same starting line-up in the hopes of gaining a bit of redemption following the Uni loss.

“Manly are a side with threats across the park from the starting side to the bench and even their second grade side,” said Fasavalu.

“We need to be playing consistent football over the next couple of weeks and some of the guys will be looking to make up for what happened last week. It’s about just going back to what works for us and what we know. That’s the hurdle we fell over against Uni.”

Manly: 1. Mitch Lewis, 2. Dave Porecki, 3. Chris Cocca, 4. Dylan Sigg, 5. Greg Peterson (c), 6. Harry Bergelin, 7. Kotoni Ale, 8. Vaka Manu, 9. Mark Swanepoel (c), 10. Scott Daruda, 11. Dane Chisholm, 12. Brian Sefania, 13. Mali Hingano, 14. Lui Siale, 15. BJ Hartmann.

Parramatta: 1. Nick Blacklock, 2. Myles Hunkin, 3. Simon Lemalu, 4. Sakaria Noa, 5. Evan Olmstead, 6. Andrew Cox (c), 7. Josh Kaifa, 8. Sililo Savea, 9. Kaleb Rech, 10. Chris Nay, 11. Alex Samoa, 12. Tui Fa’asisila, 13. Taqele Naiyaravoro, 14. Larry Hermens, 15. Tomu Mataika.

Referee: Ed Martin