Southern Districts captain Jed Holloway. Photo:SPA Images

by Brendan Bradford –

Northern Suburbs vs Randwick –

Northern Suburbs: 1. Kevin McNamara, 2. Will Weeks, 3. Nick Lah (c), 4. Nick Palmer, 5. Declan Carroll, 6. Ben Matwijow, 7. Hugh Sinclair, 8. James Cunningham, 9. Cale Holmes, 10. Henry Fisher, 11. Paul Rokalati, 12. Will Miller, 13. Jac Cameron, 14. Lachlan Rosengreen, 15. Mitch Walton.

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

Referee: Angus Gardner

Read the full preview here:

https://rugbynews.net.au/shute-shield-norths-vs-randwick-preview-favas-final-match/

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Manly v West Harbour at Manly Oval 3:00pm

Manly: 1. Eddie Aholelei, 2. Dave Porecki, 3. Mitch Lewis, 4. Greg Peterson, 5. Ed Gower, 6. Harry Bergelin, 7. Kotoni Ale, 8. Daniel Alley, 9. Mark Swanepoel, 10. Sam Vaevae, 11. Dane Chisholm, 12. Kasye Greer, 13. Brian Sefanaia, 14. Alex Northam, 15. BJ Hartmann.

West Harbour: 1. Dave Lolohea, 2. Ryan Dalziel, 3. Michael Ala’alatoa, 4. Chris Simons, 5. Harrison Orr, 6. Bradford Kapa, 7. Cohen Masson, 8. Matt Coles, 9. Rob Cattanach, 10. Dave Harvey, 11. Tito Mua, 12. Henry Seavula, 13. Rory Sidey, 14. Usaia O’Sullivan, 15. Joel Brooks.

Referee: Ian Smith

Read the full preview here:

https://rugbynews.net.au/shute-shield-well-go-out-in-a-blaze-of-glory-says-briggs/

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Gordon vs Southern Districts –

Gordon’s 32-20 loss to the Students last weekend shows just how far the Highlanders have progressed this season. Pumped 46-7 back in Round 7, Geoff Townsend’s side has developed over the season into a genuine threat rather than a team of misfits.

“We’ve made a lot of progress and it’s important we don’t go the e wrong way,” said Townsend.

“We pushed Uni all the way and but for a couple of mistakes we could’ve gotten away with it, but it’s a learning process. We can tolerate them this year, but next year the expectations are going to be much higher.”

In their last game of 2014, the Highlanders are hoping for a final win to cap the season off in style.

“We’d like to really test Souths this weekend and if we play well we’re definitely going to be a chance to win,” said Townsend.

“They’ve been playing well lately, they had a lull but they’re finishing strongly. They have a strong scrum and guys like Volavola are game breakers and they get a fair bit out of a couple of guys out wide.”

Southern Districts had to settle for a losing bonus point in a tough match against Eastwood last weekend and coach Matt Barr is looking ahead to the finals series.

“It’s either fifth or sixth spot for us,” he said.

“We’ll either play Eastwood at Eastwood or Manly at Manly and if you want to win the competition you have to beat those tough teams. The main thing for is to go into week one on the back of a really good performance this week.”

Against a much improved Gordon side, Barr has no doubt the Rebels will be challenged.  

“It comes back to what I’ve said all year – there are no easy games in the competition and it’s been really close all season,” the first year head coach said.

“Gordon at Chatswood in the last round, they’ve got nothing to lose and a lot of young players and we’ll need to make sure we’re ready for the challenge.”

Gordon v Southern Districts at Chatswood Oval 3:00pm  

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. Jason Seage, 14. Matt McDougall, 15. Xavier McCoy.

Southern Districts: 1. Duncan Chubb, 2. Maile Nguamo, 3. Tim Metcher, 4. Andrew Leota, 5. Jake Douglas, 6. Marcus Carbone, 7. Kieran Black, 8. Jed Holloway (c), 9. Chris O’Reilly, 10. Ben Volavola, 11. Afa Pakalani, 12. Apo Latunipulu, 13. Paul Asquith, 14. Alex Gibbon, 15. Ben Connolly.

Referee: William Houston

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Warringah vs Eastwood –

Both these sides are coming off tough matches last weekend, but only one of them got the win. Eastwood held off Southern Districts at a wet Forshaw Park while the Rats were outgunned by Randwick at Coogee Oval.

The result confirmed Eastwood’s position in second place overall heading into the finals while Warringah slipped to fourth. The Woods can’t be caught in second place and fifth placed Southern Districts are too far behind to jump to fourth, meaning no matter what happens this weekend, Eastwood will play the fifth placed finisher and Warringah will play Uni in the first week of the finals.

But with momentum and confidence such important things at this stage of the season, the showdown at Rat Park will still have a competitive edge.

“It was semi-finals style football last weekend, and I drilled that into the guys through the week which probably led to them being a bit conservative,” said Eastwood coach John Manenti.

“It’ll be interesting to see this weekend how we show up in terms of attitude because we can’t go up or down and they can go from fourth to third, but realistically, whether they win or lose, they’ll be playing Uni next week. Everyone wants to go into the finals with some momentum and fit players, so it’s just finding that balance.”

Eastwood beat the Rats 41-24 at T.G. Millner earlier in the year in what was Warringah’s second loss of the season and Manenti expects the home side to be fired up after a lacklustre performance last weekend.

“They’re a good team and it wasn’t surprising after their huge win over Manly for them to be a bit down,” he said.

“But I’m expecting them to bounce back at home and put up a pretty strong display and show their depth across the club, not just in first grade.”

Warringah v Eastwood at Pittwater Rugby Park 3:00pm LIVE ON ABC TV

Warringah: 1. Richard Southan, 2. Luke Holmes ©, 3. Wayne Borsak, 4. Sam Crompton, 5. Nicolai Latuhoi, 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.

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

Referee: Edward Martin

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Penrith vs Parramatta –

The Two Blues kissed their finals hopes goodbye with a 28-12 loss to Easts last weekend. After sitting inside the top six last month, six straight losses confined Parramatta to the bottom half of the table.

The side scraped a 37-34 win over their western rivals in Round 6 but know the Emus will be on a high after edging West Harbour last weekend.

“It was a really great performance and showed what the guys can do,” said Penrith coach Teki Tuipulotu of the 36-34 defeat of the Pirates.

“We scored some good tries and it was good to get the win in front of our fans. It brings some respectability to the season and hopefully we can end it on a high and head into 2015 positively.”

The Emus are always a different prospect when playing at home and have shown that in their two wins this year. Full of confidence in front of their own fans, Penrith will fancy themselves a great chance of knocking off a Parramatta outfit low on confidence.

But too often this year, the Emus have followed up an emphatic performance with a lackadaisical one. Tuipulotu will do well to ensure his players don’t go into Saturday overconfident following their shock win last week.

Penrith v Parramatta at Nepean Rugby Park 3:00pm  

Penrith: 1. Daniel Arona, 2. Ethan- Robinson Mate (c), 3. Nigel Vaifale, 4. Paea Siualangapo, 5. Senio Toleafoa, 6. Pita Tupou, 7. Sione Pusi’aki Fifita, 8. Andrew Pelasio, 9. Notise Tauafao, 10. Robbie Mate, 11. James Umu, 12. Ben Kaafi, 13. Malakai Zelenzniak, 14. Kampo Sione, 15. Wise Tora.

Parramatta: 1. Simon Lemalu, 2. Liu Taituave, 3. Joe Dakuitoga, 4. Aisea Namoa, 5. Evan Olmstead, 6. Andrew Cox (c), 7. Josh Kaifa, 8. Sililo Savea, 9. Kaleb Rech, 10. Dion Taumata, 11. Alex Samoa, 12. Chris Nay, 13. Larry Hermens, 14. Tui Faasisila, 15. Tomu Mataika.

Referee: Dominic McCarthy

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Sydney University vs Eastern Suburbs –

The Students currently sit atop the Club Championship with a 13 point margin over Manly and are looking to maintain their momentum heading into the finals.

“Our No.1 goal is to win the Club Championship in 2014 and to do so without the cavalry arriving en masse from Super Rugby would be a remarkable achievement,” says Head Coach Chris Malone whose young First Grade outfit has played with pace and vigour.

“One big push needs to happen this weekend and we wish all of our teams the best of luck this Saturday,” he said.

Easts’ season was over about a month ago, but a series of surprising results this season makes you wonder what might have been. At the time of writing, the Beasties were the only side to beat both Manly and Eastwood this year (Warringah have the chance to become the second against the Woods this weekend), but inconsistency and an ever changing starting line up are partially to blame for missing out on the finals.

At least in last week’s win over Parramatta, the beasties managed not to fade out in the second half – a malady that has plagued the team throughout the back end of 2014.

“The main thing was the second half performance, we scored 14 and conceded five,” joked Beasties coach Campbell Aitken whose team suffered horrible second half fade-outs against Gordon and West Harbour in successive weeks.

“We just shut them down and denied them any go forward and our set-piece was pretty dominant.”

Easts will need to be on form to have any chance of beating Sydney Uni who are rolling into the finals with a head of steam.

“The guys are wanting to go out with a bang in the last game of the season and playing Uni at Uni should be motivation in itself, you’d expect guys to get up for it,” said Aitken.

“Uni being Uni, they like to win every game and there’s ample motivation for both sides and hopefully it will be entertaining.”

Sydney University v Eastern Suburbs at University Oval 1 3:00pm

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

Eastern Suburbs: 1. Adam Fullgrabe, 2. Billy Johnston, 3. Michael Fakava, 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: Edward Martin