Shute Shield: Round 10 Wrap Up
Sydney Uni and Manly secured their spots at the top of the Shute Shield ladder following tight wins over Eastwood and Western Sydney respectively over the weekend.
Elsewhere, Warringah and West Harbour played out a thriller at Rat Park, Randwick and Norths couldn’t be split and Eastern Suburbs and Souths finally returned to the winner’s circle.
Catch up on all the action from round 10 below:
Sydney University 31-20 Eastwood
Sydney University strengthened their credentials as potential competition favourites with an impressive 31-20 victory over frontrunners Eastwood at University Oval.
The Students jumped away to a 12-0 lead following a try from close range to scrum half Henry Robertson and a fantastic long range counter attack try, set up by fullback Will Goddard and scored by Eddie Poolman.
Eastwood flanker Ratu Tuisese caught the Students napping and scored from a quick tap to get the visitors on the board late in the first half, but his good work was undone by an intercept on the stroke of halftime that was snapped up by Henry Clunies Ross to give Uni a 19-10 lead at the break.
Eastwood reduced the deficit with a try to Fabian Goodall early in the second half and led 20-19 in the 55th minute.
But Sydney University’s ruck pressure swung the match in the home side’s favour. Lewis Holland scooped up a loose pass to take back the lead before Uni sealed victory minutes later with a classy team try, started by Goddard and scored by Jack McCalman.
Uni sit on top of the Shute Shield ladder on 40 competition points, while Eastwood drop to third following their third loss of the season.
Warringah 33-32 West Harbour
Warringah edged out West Harbour 33-32 in possibly the match of the season at Rat Park on Saturday afternoon.
In a match that saw the lead change four times inside the final 8 minutes, Rats fullback Ben Woollett calmly slotted a penalty goal from 40 metres out after the full time siren to seal the win.
West Harbour, bolstered by a cameo off the bench from former Super Rugby back Jack Debreczeni, scored back to back tries to take a 29-27 lead in the 72nd minute.
Warringah retook the lead through a penalty goal from close range in the 75th minute, but gave up a penalty minutes later, which Debreczeni converted from near the sideline to give the Pirates a 32-30 lead.
West Harbour held possession into the 79th minute, but were unable to secure a line out and handed Warringah the ball inside their own half.
The Rats controlled the ball, worked their way up the field and won a penalty after the full time siren, which Woollett converted to break the hearts of the travelling Pirates.
Eastern Suburbs 33-13 Gordon
A hat-trick to hooker Josh Smith inside the opening 30 minutes set up an important 33-13 victory for Easts over Gordon at Chatswood Oval.
Smith opened the scoring with a beautiful dummy from the base of a ruck, then finished two well constructed driving mauls to give the Beasties a 19-8 lead in the 30th minute.
The Easts’ forwards then combined in the back line to set up fullback Dan Donato before half time, and halfback Seb Strang midway through the second half to seal the bonus point victory.
The win is the Beasties first since round four this year, while Gordon drop out of the top eight on the back of four straight losses.
Randwick 44-44 Northern Suburbs
22 individual points from Randwick mid-season recruit Coby Miln still wasn’t enough for the Galloping Greens as they played out a 44-44 draw with Norths at Coogee Oval.
Miln, a flyhalf from New Zealand who most recently played in Japan, kicked a field goal on the stroke of half time to give his new side a 25-22 lead at half time in a seesawing affair.
Both sides scored six tries, but couldn’t find a match winner and remained locked at 44-a piece from the 72nd minute onwards.
Miln scored two tries, kicked three conversions, a penalty goal and a field goal in an impressive Coogee Oval starting debut.
Norths remain in fourth following the draw, while Randwick are sixth, six competition points behind the Shoremen.
Southern Districts 31-24 Hunter Wildfires
Southern Districts began their second reign under newly re-appointed coach Matt Barr in style with a 31-24 victory over Hunter in Newcastle.
Barr took training on Thursday evening following the club’s decision to sack coach Todd Louden and shifted Christian Kagiassis to No.10 for his first match back in charge.
The Rebels scored three unanswered tries in the second half to jump away to a 31-17 lead, then defended in the closing stages to cling on to a 7 point victory.
The win is the Rebels third in 2022 but sees them move to within five competition points of a spot in the top eight.
Hunter are now seventh and sit five competition points ahead of Easts in ninth position.
Manly 29-22 Western Sydney
A swan diving Max Douglas scored the match winner for Manly in the 75th minute against Western Sydney to help the Marlins claim their third straight win and secure their spot at the top end of the Shute Shield ladder.
Manly scored three unanswered tries in the second half after trailing 22-10 shortly after the break.
Western Sydney opened the scoring and extended their lead with tries on either side of half time.
But the Marlins hit back through No.8 Manaia Koko and then Harrison Blake, who scored in the corner following a perfect cut out pass from No.12 Kemueli Valetini.
Manly took control of the match on the back of their dominant set piece, then sealed the result through Douglas in the 75th minute.
