Hard running backrower Seilala Lam turned in a true captain’s knock as Randwick toppled Southern Districts on Saturday. Photo: seiserphotography.com

by Brendan Bradford –

Things are starting to fall into place down at Coogee Oval.

With a 33-25 defeat of Southern Districts following victories over Northern Suburbs and Penrith, sixth placed Randwick are well on the way to putting their horror 2012 season behind them.

After conceding close losses to West Harbour, Easts and Warringah in the opening month of the season, the Galloping Greens are starting to turn their potential into competition points.

“We’re getting there and the boys are getting more and more confidence in themselves which is a change,” said coach Wade Kelly.

Waratahs rookie Jed Holloway scored an impressive first-half try. Photo: seiserphotography.com

“They’re only young and earlier in the season they didn’t know how to win because they hadn’t done it before, so they just played and they didn’t know if it would come. But now they know they’ve got points in them and if they just keep doing what they’ve been doing, even if they’re down, they’ll be fine.”

The side’s ability to close out a tight match against last year’s Grand Finalists just proves how far they’ve come.

In a frenetic first half, Souths took an early 10-0 lead through a converted try and penalty, all scored by flyhalf Rohan Saifoloi before the Galloping Greens managed to get into the game.

The home-side declined a shot at the sticks from successive penalties in the attacking third and instead trusted their set-piece to get the job done. The gamble paid off handsomely as three lineouts resulted in pick and drive tries to captain Seilala Lam and prop Toa Asa before the backline got in on the action and Terrence Hepetema scored the side’s third for a 19-10 lead after 25-minutes.

The Rebels hit back with a runaway try to winger Alex Gibbon and took a 22-19 advantage when Jed Holloway dotted down off the back of a barnstorming 30-metre run.

Randwick regained the lead and secured a bonus point when Lam scored his second try on the stroke of halftime to give a 26-22 score at the break.

A Saifoloi penalty just after the resumption was the only score for the next half an hour as the match turned into an evenly contested arm-wrestle.

Enjoying the upper hand and a bit of momentum in the 15-minutes after halftime, Southern Districts looked likely, but were ultimately foiled by handling errors and poor discipline as a rugged Randwick line held firm.

Prop Toa Asa got his side on the front foot with some rampaging carries. Photo: seiserphotography.com

The tide turned in favour of the men in myrtle green after the hour mark and they hammered the visitors into their own territory with an impressive forward display spearheaded by a rampaging front row of Asa, Richie Aho and Nio Halangahu.

The breakthrough came with 10 minutes left on the clock when replacement prop Tristan Goodbody barged over for a game winning 33-25 margin.

“We just stuck together and really dug deep today,” said Asa.

“We knew they were dangerous in the backline so we just wanted to get them in the forwards and match them in the set-pieces which is what we did in that second half. We just dug deep and it’s a great win today.”

After winning their first six matches, Southern Districts have dropped their last two and slip to third on the table behind Eastwood and Manly.

“Last two weeks we’ve probably been beaten by better sides,” coach Cam Blades said frankly after the game.

“We haven’t performed in certain areas of our game and maybe that winning run we were on at the beginning of the year was disguising a few things that needed improving. To give credit where it’s due, Randwick are playing some great attacking rugby, but our defence – which is an area we’ve really worked hard on improving – was a massive disappointment today.”

It’s not quite the running rugby of the Randwick of old yet – four out of five tries were scored by forwards – but with young tyros Harry Boileau, Cayden Matehaere and Terrence Hepetema brimming with confidence, the 2013 Galloping Greens are well on their way.

They face another tough assignment next weekend away to Sydney University while Southern Districts host Manly at Forshaw in front of the ABC cameras.

Randwick 33 (Seilala Lam 2, Toa Asa, Terrence Hepetema, Tristan Goodbody tries; Cayden Matehaere 4 cons) d Southern Districts 25 (Alex Gibbon, Jed Holloway, Rohan Saifoloi tries; Rohan Saifoloi 2 cons 2 pens).