Danger Men: Tito Mua scored one of six second half tries to rescue the game for West Harbour
Photo: J.B Photography

by Paul Cook –

A half-time dressing down from coach Matt Briggs and skipper Tom Games has garnered the required reaction, with West Harbour recovering from a 24-12 deficit to run in six second half tries and beat a game Eastern Suburbs, 49-31 at Concord Oval.

With their season on the line, the Pirates turned a listless first half effort into a second forty minutes that showed why they can be such a dangerous opponent when they are on song, hat-trick hero Joel Brooks in particular, staking his claim for higher honours with another impressive display.

“We couldn’t hold the ball, we made too many set-piece mistakes, there wasn’t enough desperation or enough urgency and some of the guys thought that it was just going to happen,” Briggs told Rugby News of his side’s first half display.

As to the exact details of the half-time ‘hair-dryer treatment’ that was meted out, Briggs was coy but confirmed it was necessary.

“The half-time break was a defining time for us, not just for today but for our season. Tom [Games] and I said our piece, it was genuine, they accepted it and fortunately, they responded appropriately and came out and played the rugby we know we can play.”

His captain wasn’t letting on either. “There were a few home truths said,” he smiled. “Our season was on the line but the boys dug deep. I think it was just errors in that first half, we were pushing that pass and missing a few tackles, maybe there was a bit of complacency there but the second half was spot on to what we’ve been trying for all year I guess.”

“When we’re on we’re a match for any team but when we’re off, we’re poor so we’re just trying to get that consistency I guess,” Games added.

Action Man: No.8 Matt Coles put in an all-action display for the Pirates – Photo: J.B Photography

Having seen his side lead their last two matches by 16pts (against Gordon) and 12pts respectively, only to concede a combined total of 77pts in the second stanza, Easts’ coach Campbell Aitken was understandably frustrated at the final whistle. However, with the Woollahra club ravaged by injuries – they had only five props to call on across all four grade games on the day – he could still see positives in the young and inexperienced side he was forced to put out onto the field.

“It’s the second week in a row it’s happened so I suppose that’s the most disappointing thing about it,” he said. “If you score five tries, you’d expect to win most games but in the second half, the defence was just non-existent to be honest. Momentum is a huge thing in team sport and as soon as sides like West Harbour get a roll on, they play some pretty good rugby and they’re very difficult to stop.”

“It’s a confidence thing. I think we go out in the second half to protect the lead rather than actually keep playing the way we’ve been playing but we’ve got a young side out there,” he continued. “We had three guys making their run on debut and Archie [King] playing at five-eighth for the first time but the young kids need to learn from this and they will and they’ve got to step up next year.”

It had all started so well for the visitors, taking the game to West Harbour from the off they held sway for the first five minutes before flanker, Ben Willis, was driven over off a rolling maul and Will Paterson converted.

Their lead didn’t last long, the mercurial feet of Henry Seavula doing the damage as he profited from some open field to twist one way and another to leave a trail of Beasties in his wake as he went over. But the Pirates weren’t switched on in defence and from their next passage of territory, Easts used their driving maul once again for prop Michael Fakava to dot down.

Harrison Orr looks for support – Photo: J.B Photography

That try was then cancelled out by the first five pointer of the day for the dangerous Joel Brooks. The dashing young winger finishing off a move instigated by powerful surges from a couple of forwards in Dave Lolohea and Matt Coles.

Seavula was successful with his second conversion attempt of the afternoon and the Pirates were trailing 14-12 whilst looking like they were still in second gear. But with an Easts team seemingly on a mission, that complacency caught up with them in the 15 minutes before the break with a triple blow.

Beasties captain Anton La Vin, back on the wing, showed he can still gas it with the best of them with a searing run down the flank but you’d have to question some of the tackling from those in black, white and red.

The hosts were then rocked by the early departure of Seavula, the inside centre pulling up with a leg injury which saw him take a seat just in time to watch Easts plunder a bonus point fourth try.

Their forwards had had the upper hand for much of the first half, scrummaging well against one of the better packs in the competition and finding a potent weapon in their driving maul. As the old saying goes, ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ and the Beasties heeded that advice to drive another 10 metre lineout towards the line and when the ball was recycled infield, Archie King darted over for his own piece of history.

24-12 ahead and with a four-try bonus point in the bag, Easts went to the sheds with the game in their grasp but the 10 minute break actually proved more of a hindrance than a help on this occasion as a suitably admonished West Harbour returned with a fly in their ear and a point to prove.

And boy, did they prove it.

The half was barely a few minutes old when they struck their first redemptive blow. Matt Coles again doing the hard yards before Cohen Masson was driven over by his support.

Sai Vakarau stepped into Seavula’s kicking shoes to make it a 5pt ball game with the conversion and it wasn’t long before he was called on again. A slick backline move saw Usaia O’Sullivan feed Brooks who put Tito Mua over in the corner to level the scores before Brooks himself popped up on the opposite flank a couple of minutes later to grab his second and give the Pirates the lead for the first time in the match, 29-24.

Hat-Trick Hero: Joel Brooks goes in for the second of his three tries. He now has 14 for the season
Photo: J.B Photography

By now, Easts were very much a frightened rabbit in West Harbour’s headlights. Their first half confidence and belief dwindling with every minute, they simply had no answer to the Pirates’ onslaught as they were cut apart time and again by a backline clicking into top gear and following the example led by a terrific performance from Rory Sidey.

While Brooks, Mua and O’Sullivan were the players profiting from space, it was the work of Sidey that often opened the door for them. The former Force and Melbourne Rebels star was a constant threat with ball in hand, smashing through opposition tackles with regularity, getting over the gain line and giving his young apprentices the platform from which to strut their stuff.

It was Sidey that went in next, shadowing a line break from Masson to take the pass at the right time and glide over. Somehow, Vakarau missed from directly in front but did slot a penalty a couple of minutes later to extend Wests’ advantage to 39-24.

Easts thought they had a momentary lifeline, King popping up off the floor for Will Paterson to score but it was deemed a forward pass and with that decision – if it hadn’t already – went the game.

Brooks ran in his hat-trick try to cement the result, simply too quick, too strong and too elusive for his 14th of the season before good build-up play from Masson, Mua and Sidey paved the way for O’Sullivan to race home for the Pirates’ eighth.

Easts did break their second half hoodoo with a last minute consolation for Ben Willis to reduce the full-time deficit to 18pts but with Wests converting only three of their eight tries, the scoreboard could have been uglier for the visitors.

‘The second half was good,” joked a happy Rory Sidey. “We were running, we were offloading and everyone was enjoying it and when we do that, we just cut teams apart.

“It’s frustrating, I’m sure if we could get everyone switched on 24/7 then we’d be on top of the table but unfortunately, that’s just something that we’re still trying to find. There’s two more games to go so let’s hope we can keep that up and get ourselves into the finals.”

West Harbour 49 (Joel Brooks 3, Henry Seavula, Cohen Masson, Tito Mua, Rory Sidey, Usaia O’Sullivan tries; Henry Seavula con, Sai Vakarau 2 cons, pen ) defeated Eastern Suburbs 31 (Ben Willis 2, Michael Fakava, Anton La Vin, Archie King tries; Will Paterson 3 cons)