Jed Holloway, 2012 Shute Shield Rookie of the Year, will captain Southern Districts in their match against Manly. Photo: SPA Images

by Brendan Bradford –

The Shute Shield has finally returned!

The opening round promises to be action packed as the twelve teams resume their quest for Sydney club rugby dominance and there are plenty of mouth-watering showdowns on the cards:

Randwick v Eastern Suburbs – Coogee Oval (ABC Game) Kick-off 3.10pm

Eastern Suburbs: 1. Cooper Chapman, 2. Billy Johnstone, 3. Clay Brodie, 4. Gab Passmore, 5. Richard Stanford, 6. Matthew McKay, 7. Seilala Lam, 8. Keliti Vaingalo, 9. Luke Irwin, 10. Henry Hudson, 11. Damon Anderson, 12. Keith Mesema 13. Chris Tuatara-Morrison 14. Anton La Vin (c), 15. Jeremy Raftos.

Randwick: 1. Toa Asa, 2. Alex Walker, 3. Tristan Goodbody, 4. Dan Falefa, 5. Alfred Pinomi, 6. Tom Bennett, 7. Mark Baldwin, 8. Sam Figg (c), 9. Tim Donlan, 10. David Horwitz, 11. Ethan Ford, 12. Pieter Englebrecht, 13. Kuki Ma’afu, 14. Tim Wright, 15. Liam Windon.

See the full Rugby News preview here: https://rugbynews.net.au/randwick-easts-preview-theres-not-gonna-be-any-love-lost/

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Southern Districts v Manly – Forshaw Park – ko 3pm

This will be a battle of the titans between two sides who have consistently made the finals series over the last few years. Both boast imposing forward packs with pace out wide and a good mixture of youth and experience from 1 to 15.

Southern Districts coach Matt Barr, who took over from Cam Blades after last season, says he hasn’t changed too much in the side’s approach to the game.

“This is my fourth year of being involved with the team and I’ve been a part of the process with Cam over the last couple of years,” he said.  

“We’ve got some instinctive runners of the ball and I certainly don’t want to quash that, but we need to make sure we’re doing it at the right times, at the right places on the field and not putting ourselves under pressure.

Last season’s Shute Shield top point-scorer Rohan Saifoloi will start at flyhalf while Waratahs tyro Jed Holloway assumes the captaincy for the season.

While Barr highlighted the dangerous Manly pack, Marlins coach Phil Blake pointed out Souths’ home-field advantage.

“They’re hard to play at any stage of the season, and even more so at home. They’re a very accomplished side and very hard to beat down there,” he said.

“We’re expecting nothing less than a hard and combative afternoon but we’ve trained hard over the off-season and like most sides, we’re just keen to get on the field.”

Versatile fullback Shaun Treweek joins Manly from West Harbour while the experienced Marshall Milroy will start at fly-half and lock Ed Gower captains the side.

“Shaun’s a really good addition and Vaka Manu who came across with him has been a surprise package. He’s lost about 15 kilos and is doing some really good things,”  said Blake.

Southern Districts: 1.Duncan Chubb, 2.Maile Nguamo, 3.Tim Metcher, 4.Marcus Carbone, 5. Andrew Leota, 6. Luke Smart, 7. Jono Hayes, 8. Jed Holloway (c), 9.Dewet Roos, 10. Rohan Saifoloi, 11. Faleula Finau, 12. Ollie Samuela, 13.Denny Godinet, 14. Ben Connolly, 15. Ben Volavola.

Manly: 1. James Gentle, 2. David Porecki, 3. Tim Fairbrother, 4. Ed Gower (c), 5. Greg Peterson, 6. Harry Bergelin, 7. Kotoni Ale, 8. Vaka Manu, 9. Matt Lucas, 10. Marshall Milroy, 11. Richard Hooper, 12. Brian Sefanaia, 13. Mali Hingano, 14. Lui Siale, 15. Shaun Treweek.

Referee: Ed Martin

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Eastwood v Northern Suburbs – T.G. Millner Field

Eastwood are looking to go a step further than their Grand Final loss last year and will field a team with plenty of familiar faces this weekend. In contrast, Norths have had a high player turnover in the off-season but coach Scott Fava says he’s happy with the current make-up of his starting 15.

“We had a fair few players leaving and didn’t know who’d be sticking around, but now that the boys have all bought into what we’re doing, we’ve seen some really good momentum,” the Norths coach said.

“We needed to have loyal Norths boys wearing the jersey, not players coming in because of other influences. There are certainly a few unknowns there, but hopefully in a few years they will be known to everyone.”

Northern Suburbs are one of the better defensive teams in the competition and with Jack Grant, who played second grade last year, lining up at flyhalf and fullback Mitch Walton returning from Gordon, Fava has focused on getting more points on the board this year. Openside flanker Will Miller will continue to wreak havoc at the breakdown while Ben Matwijow and Nick Lah offer some stability up front.

For the Woods, Hugh Roach, who’s been picked up by the Waratahs, will start at hooker with Hugh Perrett in the back row, Mick Snowden at halfback, Pierre Hola at ten and Ben Batger at fullback. Hola enters the season injury free, but centre Michael MacDougall will miss the first month of competition with a dislocated elbow.

“The spine is fairly consistent and we’ve got Blake Sutton stepping in for Michael at 12,” said coach John Manenti.

“Pierre gets better with every outing – he won’t be in his finest form in round one – but he’s still got his silky skills. Without too much knowledge of their (Northern Suburbs) team I’ll probably be more focused on us rather than what they’re going to bring.”

Eastwood: 1. Jed Gillespie, 2. Hugh Roach, 3. Dylan Brass, 4. Steve Cummins, 5. Andrew Clyne, 6. Jared Barry, 7. Kyle Shewan, 8. Hugh Perrett (c), 9. Mick Snowden, 10. Pierre Hola, 11. Nick Batger, 12. Blake Sutton, 13. Cameron Mitchell, 14. John Grant, 15. Ben Batger.

Northern Suburbs: 1. Daniel Murray, 2. Will Weeks, 3. Nick Lah (c), 4. James Cunningham, 5. Michael O’Hea, 6. Ben Matwijow, 7. Will Miller, 8. Michael Wells, 9. Liam Walker, 10. Jack Grant, 11. Kurt Penney, 12. Lachlan Porteous, 13. Jac Cameron, 14. Jackson Selby, 15. Mitch Walton.

Referee: Will Houston

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Warringah v West Harbour – Pittwater Park

With game breakers across the park, this match could be the pick of the round. The Rats showed glimpses of brilliance last season but fell a couple of wins short of the finals while West Harbour are looking to build on their fifth place finish.

“Preseason went well and we’ve got a lot of guys down at training,” said Rats captain Luke Holmes, whose brother Josh will continue looking for a professional contract playing at halfback.

“We’ve got a structured program with a good coaching staff and we’ve given a lot of guys a run in the trials.

“West Harbour play a good style of rugby, they’re very enterprising and it always makes for a good game. It’s up at Rat Park and it’s the 50th year for the club, so hopefully we can make it count.”

West Harbour’s new flyhalf, Dave Harvey, can expect a hostile reception from the Rats faithful on The Hill after defecting from Pittwater to Concord and his fifth Shute Shield club, but it’s nothing Pirates coach Matt Briggs is concerned with.

“Dave will be a great asset to us and there’s no doubt they’ll be waiting for him, but he’s a professional in the Shute Shield and is always in the upper echelon when it comes to player of the year awards.

“It’ll be a tough encounter, Warringah are always tenacious at the ruck and if the weather holds it’ll be a good one. Our focus will be on keeping the ball in attack, limiting turnovers and making sure our big guys keep it simple and direct.”

Warringah: 1. Richard Southern, 2. Luke Holmes (c,) 3. Wayne Borsak, 4. Vincent Wright, 5. Ben Adams, 6. Junior Palau, 7. Sam Ward, 8. Sam Crompton, 9. Josh Holmes, 10. Josh Gillard, 11. Brad Dixon, 12. Chris Arnold, 13. Michael Adams, 14. Sireli Tagicakibau, 15. David Feltscheer.

West Harbour: 1. Michael Ala’alatoa, 2. Ryan Dalziel, 3. David Lolohea, 4. Bradford Kapa, 5. Chris Simons, 6. Tom Games (c), 7. Cohen Masson,  8. Harrison Orr, 9. Rob Cattanach, 10. Dave Harvey, 11. Joel Brooks, 12. Henry Seavula, 13. Rory Sidey, 14. Usaia O’Sullivan, 15. Angus Le Lievre.

Referee: Richard Goswell

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Parramatta v Gordon – Merrylands RSL Rugby Park

There are plenty of new faces at the Two Blues after backs Sosene Anesi, Iese Leota, Damien Fakafanua, Tukia Muli and forwards Adam Coleman, Chris Seutini and Charlie Leaeno all departed but new coach Gerrard Fasavalu is excited about the prospect of having both Yakopo brothers fit and on the field.

“We’ve lost more than half of first grade but the guys coming through have all come through our lower grades,” he said.

“Dan (Yakopo) just arrived back from Italy and Sammy’s fit and rearing to go. Like all teams in the competition, Gordon poses a threat and a challenge and it’s often a high scoring match.”

Parramatta: 1.Simon Lemalu, 2. Myles Hunkin, 3. Nick Blacklock, 4. Sakaria Noa, 5. Josh Kron, 6. Andrew Cox (c), 7. Josh Kaifa, 8. Rodney Ma’a, 9. Kaleb Rech, 10. Sam Yakopo, 11. Alex Samoa, 12. Dominic Graham, 13. Tomu Mataika, 14. Lani Tiatia, 15. Tom Woods.

Gordon: 1. Nick Fraser, 2. Tobias Guikabau, 3. Hugh Cropley, 4. Ruiradh Wilson, 5. Roni Scarano, 6. Jack Dempsey, 7. Gordon Broome, 8. Mark Williams, 9. Terry Preston (c), 10. Henry Carmichael, 11. Matt Gordon, 12. Tom Matthews, 13. Nathan Scarano, 14. Matt McDougall, 15. Richie Williams.

Referee: Jamie McGregor

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Penrith v Sydney University – Nepean Rugby Park

The Emus scored an upset win over The Students in a trial match last weekend, but are expecting a much sterner test at Nepean Park this Saturday. Second year coach Teki Tuipulotu has named a team with plenty of new faces including former Penrith Panthers U-20 and New Zealand Warriors reserve grade back Malakai Zelezniak. Hooker, Ethan Robinson-Mate has been named captain.

“There’s a lot of new faces – probably only three or four remain from last year – but they’re coming along very well,” said Tuipulotu.

“They’ve trained well together and hopefully we can put it together on Saturday.”

For Uni, the challenge is to maintain their lofty standards year after year and they’ll be up against a physical Penrith pack who received an offseason training session by Waratahs coach Michael Cheika.

“We’ve been working really hard for the last three months trying to get back to that level of last year,” said newly instated Uni captain Tom Boidin, who takes over from club legend Tim Davidson.

“I’m captain this week and obviously Davo is such a great leader and we just need to keep his standard because that’s what’s driven our success.”

Penrith: 1. Daniel Aroma, 2. Ethan Robinson-Mate (C), 3. Nigel Vaifale, 4. Sione Pusiàki Fifita, 5. Anton McGreadie, 6. Senio Tolefoa, 7. Areta Taiti, 8. Pita Tupou, 9. Notise Tauafao, 10. Robbie Mate, 11. Wilson Silipa, 12. Paueli Halafihi, 13. Malakai Zelenzniak, 14. Jerome McKenzie, 15. Tbc.

Sydney University: 1. Alasdair King, 2. James Willan, 3. Sam Talakai, 4. Byron Hodge, 5. Tom Heslop, 6. Tom Boidin (c), 7. Benn Melrose, 8. Hugo Dessens, 9. Jake Gordon, 10. Stefano Hunt, 11. Sam English, 12. James McMahon, 13. Chris Ingate, 14. James Dargaville, 15. Stuart Dunbar.

Referee: Tim Wills

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