Easts’ scrum-half Luke Irwin on the charge – Photo: seiserphotography.com

by NSW Rugby –

Braving the heavy rain and strong winds sweeping across Sydney, Southern Districts maintained a clean sheet, moving up to second position on the Shute Shield ladder after upsetting Warringah at home and recording a 14-13 win.

Two points clear of Souths, Northern Suburbs retained the top spot with a comfortable 49-0 away victory over Penrith, whilst Eastern Suburbs notched up their first win of the season overcoming last year’s champions Sydney University at Woollahra Oval. Eastwood downed Randwick at T.G. Millner to take third place overall, whilst Parramatta upset Manly at Merrylands RSL Rugby Park and West Harbour rise to fifth on the ladder after holding strong to beat Gordon at Chatswood Oval.

Warringah v Southern Districts

In wet and windy conditions, Souths managed to drown the Rats in a tightly-fought encounter at Pittwater Rugby Park. The Rebels fought hard throughout the match, dominating the Rats’ scrum and finding several gaps in their defence. Poor discipline and ball handling on both sides hindered the teams, with the match going down to the bell.

Disappointed Warringah captain Josh Holmes said after the match, “We were hoping to win by one point probably, right now at the moment close enough isn’t good enough for the Rats.”

The win is the second single-point victory in a row for Souths and the second consecutive one-point loss for the Rats. “The weather was horrible so we knew it was going to be a tight forwards’ game,” said winning captain Jono Hayes. “We saw that Norths only beat them (Warringah) by one (last week) so we knew it was going to be tough. It’s always hard coming from Southern Districts up to Rat Park.

“We got a huge spray on discipline last week, which obviously didn’t get through so we’re going to be focusing on our discipline and ball handling coming up to next week.”

Opening up the score with a penalty after 12 minutes, the Rebels looked strong playing with the wind. The Rats struggled to cope with the swirling wind, that kept pushing the ball back into their half. However they took advantage of the Rebels’ poor discipline, with Josh Holmes finding the try line to take a narrow 7-6 lead going into the second half.

Souths though were quick to hit back after the break, edging ahead through a third Rohan Saifoloi penalty. Their lead was short-lived, with poor discipline gifting the Rats’ six points from the boot of Dave Harvey. Approaching the end of the third quarter, the Rebels capitalised on some decent possession with scrumhalf Grayson Hart scoring in the corner to give his side a 14-13 that they fought hard to maintain for the final 20 minutes, despite losing a second player to the sin bin in the closing stages.

Southern Districts 14 (Grayson Hart try; Rohan Saifoloi 3 pens) d Warringah 13 (Josh Holmes try; Dave Harvey con, 2 pen) at Pittwater Rugby Park. Referee Edward Martin.

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In this week’s ABC TV match, Easts came from behind to earn their first win of the season, defeating the Students 13-10 despite being forced to defend for much of the match.

A great first-half try to Tom Azar put the Beasties in front at the half-time break, but a huge break from Uni speedster Tom Kingston put Greg Jeloudev over the line and the Students back in the lead.  Although neither team found the try-line again, two penalties from Henry Hudson, including one after the bell, were enough to seal Easts’ first win of the season.

Eastern Suburbs 13 (Tom Azar try; Henry Hudson con, 2 pens) d Sydney University 10 (Greg Jeloudev try; Jock Merriman con, pen) at Woollahra Oval. Referee Rohan Hoffman

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Despite being on the wrong end of a heavy penalty count, a great display of attacking rugby helped Parramatta to a comfortable win over Manly.  The visitors were unable to cope with the speed and accuracy of the Two Blues, who crossed six times, with flyhalf Tom Woods bagging a hat-trick.  Fullback Dan Rawaqa also impressed for Parra, scoring twice himself and setting up several others. Despite three tries of their own, the Marlins were unable to keep pace with their western Sydney rivals, going down 41-17.

Parramatta 41 (Tom Woods 3, Dan Rawaqa 2, Rodney Ma’a tries; Dan Rawaqa 3 cons, pen, Tom Woods con) d Manly 17 (Adam Crerar, Andrew Davis, Pat Leofa tries; BJ Hartmann con) at Merrylands RSL Rugby Park. Referee Anthony Moyes – RUGBY NEWS MATCH REPORT TO FOLLOW

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Trailing just 7-0 late in the first half, Penrith’s second period capitulation saw Norths run away with a comfortable seven-try 49-0 victory at Nepean Rugby Park.  Struggling with limited possession, the Emus were no match for Norths’ dangerous backline.  Although they remain bottom of the table, the Penrith side will take heart from their first half performance as they continue to search for their first points of the year.

Northern Suburbs 49 (Corey Brown 3, Blake Murray, Lachlan Porteous, Pat Sio, Liam Windon tries; Corey Brown 7 cons) d Penrith 0 at Nepean Rugby Park. Referee Michael Hogan

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At a very wet T.G. Millner Field, the Woodies proved just too strong for the Galloping Greens, steam rolling across the line five times to earn a 34-3 bonus point win. An early intercept try to the Woodies’ international winger Lachie Turner helped the home side to an early lead, with plenty of running rugby to follow.  Unable to reach the tryline, the Galloping Greens relied on the boot of Toby Browne for their only points of the match.

Eastwood 34 (Jared Barry, Michael McDougall, Kyle Shewan, Sione Tau, Lachie Turner tries; Ben Batger 2 cons, pen, Jimmy Hilgendorf con) d Randwick 3 (Toby Browne pen) at T.G. Millner Field. Referee Will Houston

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Despite taking the lead in the first half at a wet Chatswood Oval, a number of errors from the Highlanders allowed the Pirates to steal the match 27-17 in the closing stages.

West Harbour 27 (Tim Hansen, Alofa Alofa, Aisea Namoa, Vaughan Lomax tries; Winston Wilson 2 cons, pen) d Gordon 17 (Seb Murphy, Gordon Broome tries; Terry Preston 2 cons, pen) at Chatswood Oval. Referee Angus Gardner –