by Brendan Bradford –

Warringah vs Manly –

The combined motivation of rebounding from last weekend’s shock loss to Souths and the second Northern Beaches derby of the season will fire-up the third placed Warringah Rats.

“Obviously the boys were pretty upset and I think it was a bit of a reality check more than anything and our defence and breakdown really let us down,” said Rats assistant coach Michael Lipman, who believes this match will be make or break.

“We’re looking to put those things right and what better way to do it than against the best team in the comp and the local derby. Redemption‘s a powerful thing but it can go one way or another and I think the season’s going to be summed up in this one game. It’ll be a true test of our character and a test of how much we believe in ourselves.”

While the Rats succumbed to an unexpected loss, the Marlins were bouncing back from their own upset defeat to Eastern Suburbs with an emphatic 48-0 hiding of Randwick. For coach, Phil Blake, the result was evidence of the mindset the side took into the match.

“It was the attitude more than anything else and the guys were refocused and we got the result,” said Blake.

“It was a lot better than the previous week, but we’ve still got a lot of work to do.”

Manly won the first Northern Beaches derby convincingly back in May at the Village Green, but Blake says he won’t take too much stock from that result, or even the Rats’ line-up on Saturday.

“We can’t change our attitude just because of who the opposition is this week, we’re not going to prepare any more just because of who it is,” he said.

”We have to prepare the same way each week. We’re obviously concentrating on a few areas and they’ve got some dangerous players and they’ll be in the same position as us in wanting to refocus after their loss last week. I’ve got no doubt they’ll have a lot better week this week and everyone gets up for these games.”

Memories of that first up loss to the Marlins will linger for Warringah players and Lipman says it’s up to the senior leadership group to make a difference.

“In that game our senior players didn’t step up and for us to win the big games, they need to do that. There was no direction and no leadership so I’m looking forward to a big improvement from those five guys,” he said.

“It’s about each individual knowing their roles inside and out and being able to execute it under pressure. That’s what breeds success and some stand up under the pressure and some don’t. There’ll be about 7000 people down at Rat Park so it’ll be an amazing atmosphere,”

Warringah v Manly @ Pittwater Rugby Park 3:00pm LIVE ON ABC TV

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

Manly: 1. Mitch Lewis, 2. Dave Porecki, 3. Tim Fairbrother, 4. Ryan Melrose, 5. Greg Peterson (c), 6. Harry Bergelin, 7. Kotoni Ale, 8. Vaka Manu, 9. Mark Swanepoel (c), 10. Sam Vaevae, 11. Dane Chisholm, 12. Scott Daruda, 13. Brian Sefania, 14. Alex Northam, 15. Shaun Treweek.

Referee: Ian Smith

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Parramatta vs Sydney University

Two bonus points from last weekend’s 42-41 loss to West Harbour left Parramatta in sixth spot but with a tough match against Sydney University this weekend, the Two Blues are anything but assured of a finals berth.

“It keeps us in the hunt, but we really need some serious bonus points and a couple of wins to come our way,” said coach, Gerrard Fasavalu.

“Last weekend there wasn’t much defence in the equation, it was a bit of a try-scoring fest and in the first half we missed 19 tackles and that’s just not good enough.”

As it has been for most of the season for Parramatta, getting everything to click is a work in progress.

“You start working on one area and another area drops,” said Fasavalu.

“That’s a balance we need to get right as a team. When we are concentrating on one area, we can’t neglect other areas because other teams will punish you. We’ve got Uni this weekend and they’ll bounce back from their disappointing loss last weekend and there’s a reason them and Eastwood have been the benchmark for the last few seasons because they do the basics well and just grind teams down.”

Tom Woods moves out to 12 for the Two Blues with Dion Taumata coming up from Second Grade at flyhalf.

Sydney University coach Chris Malone believes his side’s 38-22 loss to Eastwood last weekend came down to poor first half defence.

“It didn’t go well last weekend, elements were good but our first up defence was sometimes pretty atrocious,” he said.

“We fought our way back into it but gave ourselves a mountain to climb and didn’t get it right. With 15 minutes to go we were behind by nine points and I suppose the positive is that we came back and put them under the pump.”

Malone is preparing for a run into the finals without much Super Rugby talent to call on, but says his young outfit has been getting the job done so far.

“There are guys just starting out in First Grade but they’re all good footballers and I’m confident that the team we’ve got will do the job we need to do,” said Malone.

“They’re all quality young blokes and they’re all making their way. We won’t have too many Super players back which is a position the club hasn’t been in and I see it as a great challenge. We’ll work hard to get as high on the ladder as we can and give ourselves every chance come the finals.”

Tom Robertson starts at loosehead after starring for the Australian U-20s while Gerrard Ellis is at hooker and Stu Dunbar goes back to fullback.

Parramatta v Sydney University @ Merrylands RSL Rugby Park 3:00pm 

Parramatta: 1. Nick Blacklock, 2. Liu Taituave, 3. Simon Lemalu, 4. Siatua Solaese, 5. Evan Olmstead, 6. Andrew Cox (c), 7. Sililo Savea, 8. Aisea Namoa, 9. Kaleb Rech, 10. Dion Taumata, 11. Alex Samoa, 12. Tom Woods, 13. Larry Hermens, 14. Tomu Mataika, 15. Chris Nay.

Sydney University: 1. Tomas Robertson, 2. Gerard Ellis, 3. Sam Talakai, 4. Thomas Boidin (c), 5. Thomas Heslop, 6. Samuel Quinn, 7. David Hickey, 8. Hugo Dessens, 9. Jock Merriman, 10. Daniel Kelly, 11. Henry Clunies-Ross, 12. James McMahon, 13. Jim Stewart, 14. James Dargaville, 15. Stuart Dunbar

Referee: Will Houston

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Southern Districts vs Northern Suburbs –

With a 50-18 hiding of Warringah at Pittwater Park last weekend, Southern Districts claimed their second “heroic” victory in as many weeks after the injury-hit side despatched Parramatta at Merrylands the Saturday before.

“We started off slowly, but once we stuck to our structures, we started taking some of our opportunities which was really pleasing,” said coach, Matt Barr.

“We executed the little things, which had been letting us down, and putting more pressure on our opposition rather than ourselves.”

The Rebels are fifth on the ladder – six points ahead of sixth placed Parramatta – and are now looking to build for the finals series.

“Last weekend gives us some confidence and momentum moving forward into a tough last couple of weeks of the regular season and into the finals,” said Barr.

“Apo (Latunipulu) and Ben Volavola are getting more and more game time under their belts and another couple of guys like Jed Holloway, Kieran Black and Duncan Chubb have all come back so things are starting to fall into place at the right time. But we haven’t achieved anything yet, we need to keep improving and keep building and Norths will be another tough challenge this week because they have nothing to lose.”

Mathematically Norths still have a chance of making the finals, but realistically they’re playing the role of spoiler in the last three weeks of the regular season as they try to climb as high as possible on the ladder.

“We’re below Souths on the ladder but we’ve still got the goal of jumping a few teams before the end of the year and finishing on a high,” said coach, Scott Fava.

“Southern Districts are in fifth, which is too high for us to catch, but there are a few others we can grab.”

The Shoremen avenged their Round 11 loss to Penrith last weekend but will be without Cam Crawford who has been called into the Waratahs side as replacement for the injured Israel Folau.

“We needed to get that payback for them beating us and hopefully the guys can learn that getting a good start is the foundation to win games,” said Fava.

“Lewis Dwyer comes in at lock because we’ve lost Michael Wells this week and I’ve pushed Ben Matwijow to six. Lewis had a cracking game last week so he deserves his debut and we’ve got Mitch Walton and Jack Cameron in the starting team which is good.”

Southern Districts v Northern Suburbs @ Forshaw Rugby Park 3:00pm

Southern Districts: 1. Duncan Chubb, 2. Maile Nguamo, 3. Tim Metcher, 4. Andrew Leota, 5. Marcus Carbone, 6. Jono Hayes, 7. Kieran Black, 8. Jed Holloway (c), 9. Chris O’Reilly, 10. Ben Volavola, 11. Jonathan Brown, 12. Apo Latunipulu, 13. Denny Godinet, 14. Luke Smart, 15. Ben Connelly.

Northern Suburbs: 1. Kevin McNamara, 2. Will Weeks, 3. Nick Lah (c), 4. Declan Carroll, 5. Lewis Dwyer, 6. Ben Matwijow, 7. Hugh Sinclair, 8. James Cunningham, 9. Andrew Woods, 10. Corey Tulloch, 11. Paul Rokolati, 12. Will Miller, 13. Jac Cameron, 14. Tom Redden, 15. Mitch Walton.

Referee: James Leckie

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West Harbour vs Eastern Suburbs –

West Harbour coach Matt Briggs would’ve sprouted a few grey hairs during last week’s nail-biting 42-41 win over Western rivals Parramatta. After going out to a game-winning lead, the Pirates were given a scare as Parramatta scored two tries against the run of play but ended up one point short of a memorable win.

“It was unbelievable, but we got there in the end and breathed a sigh of relief,” said Briggs.

“We actually played a good brand of football and by the 60th minute it looked like we could have won by 40 or 50 at least. With Henry (Seavula) back, he makes such a difference to our team and we’re still getting the experience to grind out matches.”

The win keeps West Harbour’s, until then slim, finals chances alive ahead of matches with Easts, Penrith and Manly.

“If we can muster a win this week and continue to do so, we’ll put ourselves in contention for sixth position. It’s in our hands now,” said Briggs.

“Parramatta and Randwick will be thinking the exact same thing, so it comes down to us. We played Easts at full-strength earlier in the year and we’ve developed since then and I’m really happy with some of the growth this year.”

Unbelievably, Easts conceded 40 unanswered points in the second half against Gordon last weekend to give the Highlanders a 46-22 win at Chatswood Oval. It was a cruel blow for the Beasties after edging table-topping Manly the week before.

“We always play badly the week after we well and it was just our attitude, 100 percent. We led 22-6 at halftime, and I actually told them to up the intensity, but they just started playing as individuals and lost the plot,” said coach, Campbell Aitken.

“I think it was just a lack of leadership across the team. There are enough senior players that it shouldn’t have happened and our main issue is just attitude.”

The Beasties can ill-afford to take that patchy form into this weekend’s match with the Pirates who have everything to play for and the ability to score at a point a minute. Unable to bridge the gap to the top six, Aitken is taking the opportunity to blood some young talent.

“We’re out of the finals which has actually motivated the guys to get up again and finish well,” said Aitken.

“We’ve had a number of changes, some of them we chose, others not. Our backs are full of young kids and we’re giving them a go and we’re looking to experience for next year already. There’s a great opportunity for these guys to put their hands up and it’s up to them to take it.”

West Harbour v Eastern Suburbs @ Concord Oval 3:00pm  

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

Eastern Suburbs: 1. Adam Fullgrabe, 2. Billy Johnston, 3. Clay Brodie, 4. Gab Passmore, 5. Phil Mathers, 6. Richard Stanford, 7. Ben Willis, 8. Sam Stitcher, 9. Tim Duchesne, 10. Archie King, 11. Anton La Vin (c), 12. Jeremy Raftos, 13. Matt Armour, 14. Warwick Percival, 15. Will Paterson.

Referee: Ed Martin

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Randwick vs Gordon –

Randwick’s finals hopes took a dive last weekend when they failed to score a single point at the Village Green while conceding 48 to Manly. It was the Galloping Greens’ second heavy loss to the title favourites but they’re back home at Coogee Oval this Saturday and have a couple of their brightest young talents back in the side.

Flyhalf Dave Horwitz returns after a week off due to injury while Andrew Kellaway, who last month broke the record for most tries scored in the U-20s World Championships, starts at fullback. Toa Asa captains the side again with Alex Harrod joining Tom Connor and Will Munro in the back-row after Sam Figg was ruled out for the rest of the season with injury.

With a consistent starting line-up for the first time this season, the Highlanders managed a boil-over with a 46-22 rout of Eastern Suburbs at home last weekend.

“We laid the groundwork in the first-half with a fast pace and got them moving around, but in the second half we went a  bit more direct and got a bit more pay,” said coach, Geoff Townsend.

“We’ve been pretty settled for a few weeks now which has helped us and Tom Matthews has been outstanding and most of our possession was quick and the work we did in the first half helped us get the result in the second half.”

Gordon ground out a win in the wet over Randwick when the sides met earlier in the season and Townsend has again named the same starting line-up.

“That was our first win of the season and if we get better each week we’ll put ourselves in a position to win games, and that’s the focus for this week,” he said.

“Randwick will be desperate to get the result and they’ve got some very good players. We’re ahead of where we were in previous seasons which is a positive but we still want to get a few more wins before the season ends.”

Randwick v Gordon @ Coogee Oval 3:00pm 

Randwick: 1. Toa Asa (c), 2. Alex Walker, 3. Tristan Goodbody, 4. Jesse Harris, 5. Josh Eden–Whitari, 6. Alex Harrod, 7. Tom Connor, 8. Will Munro, 9. Harry Boileau, 10. David Horwitz, 11. Nathan Roye, 12. William Rees–Hole, 13. Mark Koteczky, 14. Ethan Ford, 15. Andrew Kellaway.

Gordon: 1. Tobias Guikabau, 2. Ron Hobden, 3. Nick Fraser, 4. Ruiraidh Wilson, 5. Luke Heavey, 6. Jack Maguire, 7. Jack Dempsey, 8. Johnno Broome, 9. Terry Preston (c), 10. Henry Carmichael, 11. Sione Ala, 12. Tom Matthews, 13. Lucas Simkin, 14. Matt McDougall, 15. Xavier McCoy.

Referee: Richard Goswell

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Eastwood vs Penrith –

Eastwood coach John Manenti reckons his team could’ve put a few more points on Sydney University last weekend as he keeps looking for improvement leading into the finals.

“We went missing for a while and disappointingly we stopped when we had a man in the bin,” he said.

“Pretty pleased with the effort and it was a big game in the context of the season because if we lost we’d have no chance of a top two finish. We won firsts, seconds and thirds down there and it’s not often you get to do that against Uni.”

In keeping the Students from gaining a bonus, Eastwood virtually assured their second spot on the ladder but Manenti warned against the complacency that has crept in during a couple of the side’s games this season.

“We’ve fallen into the trap a few times this season of not getting up for these games and it’s all about our progression,” he said.

“We’ll go hard this week and there’ll be no mentality of taking it easy or resting guys because we need to be battle hardened going into the finals. We’ve seen plenty of Penrith and they can be enterprising and very good but the focus will be on us with Hugh Perrett’s 200th grade game and Back to Eastwood day.”

Jai Ayoub has an eye injury and will be replaced by Pierre Hola with Hugh Roach starting at hooker.

It was an injury depleted Penrith side that lost 36-14 to Norths last weekend, and coach, Teki Tuipulotu says it hasn’t got much better this week.

“Going through the player lists to see who’s available and it’s not pretty,” he said.

“I’ve lost another winger and at this time of the season there’s always a lot of injuries – even in the lower grades – but we’ll be alright.”

With not much to play for except pride, Tuipulotu says the Emus will travel to T.G. Millner and throw everything at the high-flying Woodies.

“It’ll be a big challenge and the boys know what they’re up against so it’ll be another David and Goliath battle,” said Tuipulotu.

“The most important thing will be our physical presence and we just need to man up. We’ve got pride to play for and it’s a big task, but it’s not an impossible one. I never say never.”

Eastwood v Penrith @ T.G.Millner Field 3:00pm 

Eastwood: 1. Jed Gillespie, 2. Hugh Roach, 3. Guy Millar, 4. Jared Barry, 5. Andrew Clyne, 6. Michael Kovacic, 7. Hugh Perrett (c), 8. Pat Sio, 9. Mick Snowden, 10. Pierre Hola, 11. John Grant, 12. Tom Hill, 13. Michael McDougall, 14. Nick Batger, 15. Ben Batger.

Penrith: 1. Daniel Arona, 2. Ethan- Robinson Mate (c), 3. Nigel Vaifale, 4. Paea Siualangapo, 5. Joshua Lamb, 6. Senio Toleafoa,  7. Moli Fifita, 8. Pita Tupou, 9. Mike Baysaat, 10. Robbie Mate, 11. Arthur Brown, 12. Ben Kaafi, 13. Malakai Zelenzniak, 14. Sione Pusi’aki Fifita, 15. Kampo Sione.

Referee: Michael Hogan