Eastern Suburbs rise to seventh on the table with a 38-20 win over Gordon on Saturday
Photo: seiserphotography.com

by Brendan Bradford –

Eastern Suburbs scored 25 second-half points to defeat Gordon 38-20 at Woollahra Oval on Saturday and claim their third win in a row.

The scores were tied 13-all after a stop-start first half before the Beasties powered away to an unassailable 31-13 lead off the boot of kicker Henry Hudson during a strong third quarter. The Highlanders gave themselves a slim chance of a win with a try to captain Tobias Gukibau with nine minutes left on the clock, but the home team defended well and nabbed their fourth try with the last play of the game to earn a much needed bonus point.

“We knew that they had nothing to lose and they were going to throw everything at us and they did that,” said Eastern Suburbs coach Mark Bakewell.

“It was a tough match and the game started with a bit of tempo and then it was a bit stop-start with penalties and mistakes and we couldn’t get the rhythm to wear them down. But in that 30-minute period in the second half we really dominated them convincingly and the best thing about that game was getting the bonus point right at the end.”

The young Gordon side put up a good fight for the opening 40-minutes but couldn’t stay with the fit Beasties pack after the break as a succession of penalties allowed Easts to keep the scoreboard ticking over.

“I think it was a pretty poor first half from both teams, a lot of errors and the penalty count was probably pretty even, but I think in the second half it was probably three-to-one to Easts,” said Gordon backs coach Tim Wallace.

“Until we can have a good look at it, it’s a bit disappointing. Maybe we were infringing a little bit, but it seemed to me there were a lot of 50-50 calls going against us and they punished us.

“We’re moving forward but it’s just going to be a slow process and we’ve just gotta keep working because we’ve got a young team and sometimes we just make some poor decisions and we seem to fatigue a bit. In all our games this year, we’ve been right in the game at halftime then struggled around that 50 or 60 minute mark and we haven’t been able to play games out.”

Terry Preston scored ten points from the boot in Gordon’s loss to Easts
Photo: seiserphotography.com

The match remained scoreless during a hard fought opening 20-minute period before a Terry Preston penalty put Gordon in front.

The Beasts hit back in style with Anton La Vin flying 80-meters down the sideline to score under the posts.

The home side added to their advantage with a penalty before Preston landed a second for the visitors and a fortuitous bounce of the ball from a speculative midfield bomb landed in Matt McDougall’s hands and the center strolled under the posts to give Gordon a 13-10 lead. Another Hudson penalty on halftime levelled the scores at the break.

Gordon looked likely immediately after halftime but a quick tap from halfback Luke Irwin and a flick pass by Hudson allowed lock Keliti Vaingalo to score his fourth try of the season. On the wrong side of the referee, Gordon conceded a string of penalties but defended with enough determination to keep Easts from adding to their tally. The pressure soon began to tell though and Hudson converted two penalties for a 24-13 scoreline.

Andrew Shaw barged over for the third try of the day for Easts. Photo: seiserphotography.com

Dominating the ruck and demolishing the Gordon scrum, Easts drove home their advantage with a five-pointer to Andrew Shaw which effectively killed the game off at 31-13.

Gukibau finished off a great team try to give Gordon a slight chance, but it was too little too late and James Devlin barrelled over in the corner for the hosts as the full-time siren sounded.

The Beasties have claimed some big scalps this season with wins over Sydney Uni and Eastwood, but are still looking for consistent performances.

“It’s not hard to get up for the big games like Uni, Eastwood and Randwick – no one has to say anything before those – so I think it’s just mental,” said Easts captain Pauli Taumoepeau.

“West Harbour was a game I thought we could have gone over there and won, but we thought it was just going to happen. We realise that and for us it’s just about staying humble and respecting the opposition, whoever it is.”

Seventh placed Easts host Warringah this Saturday while Gordon are at home against Randwick.

Eastern Suburbs 38 (James Devlin, Anton La Vin, Andrew Shaw, Keliti Vaingalo tries; Henry Hudson 3 cons, 4 pens) d Gordon 20 (Tobias Guikibau, Matt McDougall tries; Terry Preston 2 cons, 2 pens)