By MARK CASHMAN

The leadership and poise of flyhalf Angus Sinclair help steer Northern Suburbs through a number of hurdles on their way to a 40-26 win over the Western Sydney Two Blues on Saturday.

The Two Blues actually scored the first try of the fixture and showed some genuine promise at different times of the game in the Southern Highlands of NSW but in the end Norths scored six tries to four.

Sinclair was able to turn the big Two Blues pack around and gave Norths a major advantage in territory at critical times.

He also converted five of Norths’ six tries in what ended up being quite a fine all round display.

Norths scrum half Nick Duffy continued his busy early season form and was rewarded with two tries thanks mostly to his good support work.

His service is a plus in this Norths side but will come under pressure as the stakes become higher over the next month or so.

Norths changed their entire front row coming into this game and the trio of German Haeffeli, Gary Bautz and Dewald Dekker stood toe to toe with their opposition.

An injury to Tom Gilbert saw Cam Clark come into the starting side and he would appreciated getting an extended run after not playing a minute of footy in 2020.

The other Waratah who came out of the bubble Pat Tafa got 35 minutes at lock and was able to do some good work.

Norths coach Earl Va’a said it was good to take the game to the south west of Sydney.

“There were a lot of improvements in our front row. We forced a few penalties and gave away a few at scrum time but generally stood toe to toe with the Two Blues,” Va’a said.

“Angus Sinclair performed well and showed his leadership and game nous in getting us into the right parts of the field at the right time.

“The Two Blues are a side with so much potential and I must say that they deserved all four of their tries.

“It’s just that they need to do the good things int their game for longer, and that will happen.”

Two Blues coach Joel Rivers said a drop in intensity just before halftime had snatched the initiate from his side.

“We dropped our intensity just before the break and Norths scored twice off mistakes in our own half. This was extremely frustrating,” Rivers said.

“We went away from our game plan and made some silly mistake.  Then we scored a try in second half which by all measures was a try (even on tv) and the ref called us for knock on over the line.

“That sparked the boys and we scored two quick tries, but in the end it was too late.

“There was a lot of positives to come out of it but still some silly decisions and lack of game sense.

“We’ve just got to keep pushing these guys to be better, sounds silly but that’s all we can do.”

NORTHERN SUBURBS 40 (Nick Duffy 2, Reece Mau’u, Nathan Russell, Cam Clark, James Morgan tries; Angus Sinclair 5 conversions) d WESTERN SYDNEY TWO BLUES 26 (Tuitakau Kioa 2, Penimapa Tuitupou, Airi Hunt tries; Rory Garrett 3 conversions).

IMAGE: TWO BLUES SUPPLIED