James Dargaville should be on the Waratahs’ radar, says Uni coach, Chris Malone.

by Brendan Bradford –

Sydney University vs West Harbour –

Sydney University kept Norths scoreless in the second half last weekend and will be looking to continue that great defensive form against a dangerous West Harbour outfit.

“It was close at halftime last weekend and it was good not to concede in the second half but West Harbour have got the potential to score points from anywhere,” said coach, Chris Malone.

“They showed that against Randwick last week and it’ll be up to us to show we’re up to it with our D towards the back end of the season and limit any damage there.”

For a variety of reasons, Uni have used 50 players already this season and there are more changes this week with Michael Tyler and Timothy Reid starting in the front-row, Sam Quinn at blindside flanker and Stu Dunbar at flyhalf. One constant selection in the side though is James Dargaville who was outstanding again last weekend.

“James Dargaville was a standout, phenomenal,” said Malone.

“I’d imagine that the Waratahs would be talking about him shortly. Or they should be. Phenomenal work-rate, strong, fast, he beats players and he’s got everything. Hopefully he’ll be a chance in the Waratahs because he’s consistently one of the best players in the comp.”

West Harbour were a disconsolate bunch after a 38-26 loss at home to Randwick last weekend and the task doesn’t get any easier against Sydney University this Saturday.

“The guys were bitterly disappointed after last week, especially set-piece and ball security,” said coach, Matt Briggs.

“There were too many turnovers and we went away from the game-plan and were chasing. We’re still a developing side and we just couldn’t play that way. Having said that, with five or 10 minutes to go we got ourselves back into the game.”

In eighth place, five points behind seventh placed Southern Districts, the Pirates need points wherever they may come from.

“Last week is all in the past and we’ve had one of our better trainings of the year ahead of some big matches over the next few weeks,” said Briggs.

“No one shied away from their performance and looking back, we were a bit unlucky against Uni the first time we met them this year. We just need to stick to the game-plan and our structures and we’ll continue to improve.”

Briggs has named the same starting side with the exception of Maquire Tatola who starts on the wing with Joel Brooks dropping to fullback in the absence of Alofa Alofa. Rob Cattanach also replaces David Osofua at halfback.

Sydney University v West Harbour at University Oval No. 1 3:00pm LIVE ON ABC1

Sydney University: 1. Michael Tyler, 2. Timothy Reid, 3. Sam Talakai, 4. Thomas Boidin (c), 5. Thomas Heslop, 6. Samuel Quinn, 7. David Hickey, 8. Hugo Dessens, 9. Jock Merriman, 10. Stuart Dunbar, 11. Henry Clunies-Ross, 12. Tom Carter, 13. Christopher Ingate, 14. James Dargaville, 15. Jack Macklin.

West Harbour: 1. Michael Alaalatoa, 2. Ryan Dalziel, 3. Dave Lolohea, 4. Chris Simons, 5. Harrison Orr, 6. Tom Games (c), 7. Cohen Masson, 8. Matt Coles, 9. Rob Cattanach, 10. Sai Vakarau, 11. Tito Mua, 12. Rory Sidey, 13. Usaia O’Sullivan, 14. Macquire Tatola, 15. Joel Brooks.

Referee: Jamie McGregor

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Eastern Suburbs vs Manly –

It’s a tough couple of weeks for Eastern Suburbs who were away to Warringah last Saturday and host first-placed Manly this weekend. The Beasties had the upper hand in the first half but fell to a 26-11 defeat after repeated mistakes allowed the Rats to camp in their 22.

“We were a little bit disappointed with the performance in the second half where a few individual errors killed us, but also really happy with the spirit and the way the guys defended,” said coach, Campbell Aitken.

“They scrummed on our line for 12 minutes and didn’t get over, but we kicked out on the full four times and that’s going to kill anyone.”

Injured Waratah Mitch Chapman returned to the pitch last weekend and will line up again this Saturday as Easts look to finish the season on a high.

Easts’ flanker Richard Stanford plays his 100th First Grade game for the Beasties today.
Photo: SPA Images

“We’ve got Mitch Chapman again and he’s been cleared to play an hour which is good,” said Aitken.

“He played half an hour last week and pulled up really well, so he’s keen to get some more game-time this weekend. Manly are running pretty hot and deserve to be where they are but we have nothing to lose. They’re fully expected to win but we’re at home and we’ll be giving it one-hundred percent.”

In a frustrating match against Parramatta last weekend, Manly were held to just three tries for the first time since April and coach Phil Blake says it’s a performance the whole squad is just keen to put behind them.

“We addressed it straight after the game so we can move forward and we had some good response from the guys,” said Blake.

“It was what it was and we’re not going to fret over it and we’ll move forward onto Easts who pose a few problems in their own right.

With the end of the season in sight, the Marlins are coasting with a 12-point lead at the top of the table but Blake doesn’t want complacency seeping in.

“We were tested last week in certain areas and watching Easts’ tape against Warringah, they did some nice things and were probably a little unlucky not to be a bit further ahead at halftime,” he said.

“They’re a ten point better team at Woollahra and we’ll have to play well to get a result over there. In rugby it’s about addressing all the little things and if you don’t do that it’ll come back to haunt you. Obviously we can’t look at everything in depth, but as long as you look at the main things like set-piece, kick-off receipts and the tackle contest it should hold you in good stead.”

Tim Fairbrother comes back into the starting side at tighthead while Alex Northam replaces the injured Lui Siale on the wing.

Eastern Suburbs v Manly at Woollahra Oval 3:00pm

Eastern Suburbs: 1. Cooper Chapman, 2. Billy Johnston, 3. Clay Brodie, 4. Gab Passmore, 5. Phil Mathers, 6. Richard Stanford, 7. Tala Gray, 8. Mitchell Chapman, 9. Steve Shapland, 10. Sam Windsor, 11. Will Paterson, 12. Angus Sinclair, 13. Anton La Vin (c), 14. Warwick Percival, 15. Darcy Etrich.

Manly: 1. Mitch Lewis, 2. Dave Porecki, 3. Tim Fairbrother, 4. Dylan Sigg, 5. Greg Peterson, 6. Harry Bergelin, 7. Kotoni Ale, 8. Vaka Manu, 9. Mark Swanepoel, 10. Scott Daruda, 11. Dane Chisholm, 12. Brian Sefania, 13. Mali Hingano, 14. Alex Northam, 15. BJ Hartmann.

Referee: Richard Goswell

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Gordon v Northern Suburbs –

Although neither side has a chance of making the finals, there will still be plenty of feeling in this Northern derby as both clubs look to bounce back from losses last week.

Gordon were leading early in their match with Eastwood before the might of the 2013 Grand Finalists kicked in and the Woods eventually prevailed 55-10. Coach, Geoff Townsend has named the same side which is full of local talent as the Highlanders look to finish the season on a positive note.

“Most of our backline are local juniors and while other teams have been taking from us over the past few years, we’ve still got a good core of local juniors putting their hands up to play for us,” said Townsend.

“Every game is a chance for us to test ourselves and I’ve told the guys, to just have five good weeks until the end of the season. For 30 minutes on Saturday we more than matched Eastwood but then the juggernaut got into action, we made some rookie errors and it snowballed from there.

“We can lead for periods of the game but can’t go the distance with those big guys yet. Ideally we’d love to be able to play that style of football. We can’t yet, but that’s what we’re aiming for.”

Like Gordon against Eastwood, the Shoremen considered themselves in a contest against Sydney Uni before the Students’ class showed out.

“We were in it for stages there and came out firing but lost it in the second half,” said coach, Scott Fava.

“The big thing for us is stopping individual one-on-one tackle errors because our defensive structures are going ok, but there’s just consistency issues across the whole game.”

Cam Crawford was a late withdrawal with a shoulder injury last weekend and is a chance to play flyhalf against Gordon while injury has forced Jack Grant out of the side with Fava giving Jordan Heyer his second First Grade start at fullback.

“Against Uni and Eastwood, once they turn the volume up, our young guys just can’t go with the pace yet. But we’re working on them and getting them up to that level,” said Fava.

“Gordon are going to see this game as an opportunity to get off the bottom of the table and it’s the local derby and we’ll just have to play a tough game.”

Gordon v Northern Suburbs at Chatswood Oval 3:00pm

Gordon: 1. Tobias Gukibau, 2. Ron Hobden, 3. Nick Fraser, 4. Ruiraidh Wilson, 5. Luke Heavey, 6. Jack Maguire, 7. Mitch Greenway, 8. Johnno Broome, 9. Terry Preston (c), 10. Henry Carmichael, 11. Brandon Quinn, 12. Tom Matthews, 13. Matt McDougall, 14. Sione Ala, 15. Xavier McCoy.

Northern Suburbs: 1. Kevin McNamara, 2. Will Weeks, 3. Dan Murray, 4. Sev Domoni, 5. Ben Matwijow, 6. James Cunningham, 7. Will Miller, 8. Michael Wells (c), 9. Christian Cage, 10. Cam Crawford/Corey Tulloch, 11. Richard Woolf, 12. Michael Freeman, 13. Jac Cameron, 14. Tom Redden, 15. Jordan Heyer.

Referee: Dominic McCarthy