Shute Shield Round 3: Match Reviews
Norths, Uni, Manly and Eastwood all claimed tight victories in round three, while Gordon and West Harbour claimed bonus point wins.
The weekend’s action had it all, including a big prop striding 30 metres in open space.
Catch up on all the action from the weekend below:
Northern Suburbs 28-23 Randwick
Norths continued their unbeaten start to the 2023 season, defeating Randwick in a thriller at Coogee Oval.
Norths led 6-3 midway through the first half before prop Michael Scott barged over from close range to give the visitors a 13-3 advantage.
Randwick hit back on the stroke of halftime through Ben Houston, but Norths pushed further ahead after the break when centre Henry O’Donnell split the home side on counterattack and linked with winger Seb Cameron to score and give their side a 18-10 lead.
Randwick then gifted Norths another 7 points when they spilled the ball close to their line instead of clearing. Former Randwick lock Saxon Gillies happily scooped up the pill and scored against his old club.
Randwick returned serve through Ben Dowling in the 68th minute, then earned a scrum penalty in front of the post and converted to reduce the gap to just five points.
The two sides exchanged penalty goals in the final minutes and Randwick had a final opportunity after the full time siren but spilled the ball while attacking midfield.
After the five point victory, Norths are now three points clear of Hunter and Easts at the top of the ladder, while Randwick sit ninth on the back of two tight losses in the opening three weeks.
Sydney Uni 29-26 Hunter
Despite playing 60 minutes with 14 men and missing three of five conversions, Sydney Uni somehow held on to claim a 29-26 victory and hand Hunter their first defeat of 2023.
Uni opened the scoring when Eddy King chased down a perfectly weighted grubber from flyhalf Connor O’Shea to score in the 13th minute.
Hunter hit back when Donny Freeman barged over from close range on the back of a strong run from No.8 Tiueti Asi and claimed a 7-5 lead.
With captain Jack McCalman in the sin bin, Uni pushed ahead when Tas Smith threw a nice short ball to backrower Aiden Wearne near the line.
But Hunter responded quickly again through lock Ngaruhe Jones a few phases after another impressive run from No.8 Asi.
On the stroke of halftime, 19-year old fullback Tom Morrison found space and linked nicely with Henry Clunies-Ross to score and give the home side a 17-14 lead at the break.
With Uni again down to 14 men, Hunter regained the lead early in the second half when Alex Pohla was given too much space on the eastern touchline.
Uni retook a 22-19 lead after a try from a Tas Smith quick tap midway through the second half, but were unable to kick the conversion.
The lead then switched for the eighth time when Hunter scored from a driving maul in the 68th minute, then a ninth time when English recruit Ed Scragg scored from close range to give Uni a 29-26 lead in the 75th minute.
Hunter played for a penalty in the final minutes, but Uni’s defence held strong at the end of an exhausting and seesawing battle.
Manly 31-28 Eastern Suburbs
Manly produced their best performance of the season to beat Eastern Suburbs 31-28 in a match that had just about everything, including a brilliant match-turning long range try set up by big prop Nick Brown.
The Marlins opened the scoring with a driving maul try in the 12th minute before Easts hit back immediately. Attacking from a midfield scrum, the Beasties backs executed a well worked backline play that saw Blake Rixon race away to score his first try of the afternoon.
The Manly forwards then wrestled back momentum, with lock Byron Leach scoring twice to give his side a 21-7 lead at the break.
Leach barged over from close range to score his first try, then finished off a nice piece of play by the Manly forwards down a short side.
Trailing by 14, Easts hit back with a try to Blake Rixon early in the second half, then levelled the scores minutes later when Rixon scored his third try of the afternoon from a perfectly weighted kick from replacement No.9 Jonny Van der Velde.
The Beasties then took the lead when No.8 Will MacPherson scored his side’s third try in 10 minutes on the back of a dominant scrum.
Manly prop Nick Brown then set up the try of the match to level the scores once again.
Attacking inside their half, Brown took a pass from hooker James Hilterbrand down the short side. He took the space brilliantly, offloaded to his winger, backed up on the inside, then passed again to Ruan Du Plooy who raced away to score.
The Marlins edged ahead 31-28 following a penalty goal in the 73rd minute, then defended into the 85th minute until backrower Ben Gleeson claimed a pilfer near the Manly try line to seal victory.
West Harbour 44-16 Southern Districts
West Harbour ran in three unanswered tries in the final 12 minutes to claim an impressive 44-16 victory over Southern Districts.
Trailing 6-3 in the first half, Souths had the lion’s share of possession and territory in the first half but struggled to execute, particularly at lineout time.
The Rebels scored the opening try of the match when winger Sam Tabuatamama chased down a Cooper Hansen kick and led 10-9 at half time.
West Harbour responded early in the second half with a try from a driving maul, then caught the Rebels napping and scored from a quick lineout to take a 23-13 lead.
With the match still in the balance, Dion Spice caught the Rebels ruck defenders napping again and scored from close range to put his side ahead 30-16, before Kaliova Nacina and Noah Cooper ran in tries to seal a bonus point victory.
West Harbour are now fourth with two wins from their opening three matches, while Souths are 10th and host Warringah at home next week.
Gordon 49-29 Warringah
Gordon claimed their second straight win, defeating Warringah 49-29 in a high scoring and open affair at Chatswood Oval.
The Gordon forwards dominated the opening quarter of the match, scoring a try from a driving maul then making plenty of metres to set up winger Brandon Quinn and take a 14-3 lead.
Warringah hit back with a driving maul try but not much else went right for the visitors in the first half.
Gordon fullback Ben Pollack scored next from a nice left footed Jack McGregor grubber.
Kainoa Gudgeon crossed after a charge down, then Harrison Goddard found space down the eastern touchline and offloaded to Brandon Quinn to give the Stags a 35-8 lead at halftime.
Warringah fought their way into the match early in the second half with tries from a maul, then a nice short side play by Seb Wileman and reduced the deficit to 13 points.
But Gordon were having a day out. From a midfield scrum, centre Kainoa Gudgeon found space and kicked ahead for Brandon Quinn who showed good pace to score and claim his hat trick.
Both sides scored again in the final 10 minutes, but the result was never really in doubt. Gordon impressive in a 20 point victory at Chatswood.
The Rats are winless after three rounds and will need to win next week at Southern Districts to get their season back on track.
Eastwood 24-22 Western Sydney
Three missed conversions, a controversial red card and a missed penalty goal on full time cost Western Sydney victory over Eastwood at TG Milner.
While Nemani Nadolo’s return was the big talking point leading into the match, it was his Two Blues’ teammates that did the damage early. Taliki Nadredre opened the scoring on the back of a nice backline movement from Western Sydney.
Nadolo then appeared to injure his leg which opened up room for Eastwood winger Sione Hopoate to score untouched on the eastern touchline.
Western Sydney retook the lead through some individual brilliance from fullback Otu Mausia, then pushed further ahead when Wiseguy Faiane crossed on the back of a dominant Two Blues scrum.
But the three first half tries all went unconverted and Eastwood trailed by just three points at halftime following a driving maul try.
With the match in the balance at 15-12 early in the second half, Eastwood spread the ball through six sets of hands and scored in the corner.
The Two Blues players complained to the assistant referee and fullback Otu Mausia was given a red card for dissent. He looked visibly shocked by the decision.
Despite playing the final 30 minutes with 14 players, Western Sydney retook the lead through replacement hooker Jay Fonokalafi and led 22-19 midway through the second half.
Eastwood hit back when Chris Bell split the defence and set up Hopoate for his second try of the afternoon but looked to have handed the Two Blues victory when they conceded a scrum penalty in front of their posts in the dying stages of the match.
But not long after nailing a conversion from close to the sideline, Reece Suesue shanked his penalty goal attempt from 35 metres and Eastwood held on for a 24-22 victory.
Eastwood were extremely lucky, but did just enough to claim their first win of the season. The Two Blues are winless and host Sydney Uni next week.