By MARK CASHMAN

Good defence is the basis to any run at a Shute Shield title and Randwick continued to show that they are a team on the rise with their 22-0 win over West Harbour on Saturday.

The Wicks scored three tries to nil and impressively have only conceded 15 points (only two tries) in the first four rounds of the competition.

It was Back to Wests day at Drummoyne Oval and with rain about, conditions were expected to favour the home side, but they had trouble getting any sort of pay out of their endeavours.

The Wicks were ahead 17-0 at the break and continued to power on, although somewhat patchily in the second half.

Randwick coach Ben McCormack said his side’s habits in defence and scramble were great to watch on Saturday.

“We’re pleased to get another win but once again we were very patchy in our application of pressure and execution in attack,” McCormack said.

“I reckon we left the bonus point out there with three maybe four butchered tries.

“The most pleasing things was to keep a clean score sheet again, that desperation and determination to keep the opposition to no tries is a good habit to be in.

“Our lineout bounced back and had a good day but our scrum which has been very strong so far was penalised a number of times in the second half which was disappointing and a little confusing at times.”

Elsewhere McCormack liked the look of four of his team.

“Tom Piroddi was huge in the engine room for us, plenty of physicality in his carries and defensively he was outstanding,” McCormack said.

“Tyzak Jordan at scrum half started to find some form and Simon Kennewell and Dylan Pietsch were standouts on both sides of the ball.

West Harbour coach Mark Gudmunson said there were a number of positives that came out of the match from his point of view.

“We created five or six real scoring opportunities on Saturday, but were not patient enough in the last part of it,” Gudmunson said.

“We had no ball in the first half and that is when they put 17 points on us. Credit to our defence to hold them to 17.

“Week in week out we are on the wrong side of the penalty count and are receiving too many yellow cards.

“We need to work with refs and see why we are not getting the 50/50 calls; when you’re losing, you seem to not get them at all.

“Believe it or not, we improved again this weekend and we will review and learn and prepare for the Rats at Rat Park.”

A significant gain for the Pirates is the presence of the Super Rugby experienced Jack Debreczeni who played the last 30 minutes after getting getting a clearance from Japan.

RANDWICK 22 (Dave Horwitz, Dylan Pietsch, Triston Reilly tries; Horwitz 2 conversions, pen goal) d WEST HARBOUR 0.

IMAGE: JEREMY BRENNAN / WEST HARBOUR