Shute Shield: Week 1 Finals Wrap Up
Sydney Uni and Norths won thrilling semi finals to book their spots in a Shute Shield preliminary final, while Eastwood and Gordon kept their seasons alive with impressive victories over Easts and Warringah respectively.
Catch up on all the action from a thrilling weekend of Shute Shield finals action.
Sydney Uni 31-29 Randwick
Sydney Uni outlasted Randwick to claim a 31-29 victory in a 10-try thriller at University Oval.
Both sides scored three tries in a seesawing first half, with Uni scoring through forwards Jack McCalman, Ciaran Loh and Zac Von Appen and Randwick scoring through backs James Hendren, Dylan Dowling and Dan O’Brien.
Trailing 19-17 early in the second half, Uni hit the lead with a try to returning forward Rohan O’Regan on the back of a dominant attacking scrum.
Randwick responded midway through the second half with a try to captain Ben Houston to level the scores at 24-a piece before Uni again looked to their forward pack to find an advantage.
Against a 7-man Randwick scrum, Uni overpowered the Galloping Greens and earned a penalty try and a 31-24 lead. In a match where five conversions were missed by the two kickers, the automatic 7 points from the penalty try was crucial.
Randwick winger James Hendren took an intercept and moved play deep into Uni territory in the 75th minute. The visitors eventually scored through winger Christian Yassmin, but Ben Donaldson was unable to kick the conversion from 6 metres in from touch.
Uni held on to claim a two point victory over an extremely impressive Randwick side. Uni earn a week off, while the Wicks will host Gordon at Coogee Oval on Sunday.
Northern Suburbs 34-27 Manly
Norths’ replacement back Seb Cameron was on the field for three minutes against Manly on Saturday and it was enough to seal a 34-27 victory for his side at North Sydney Oval.
The fullback showed great speed to score in the final minutes in a match that looked destined for, and probably deserved, extra time.
Manly dominated the majority of the first half but somehow found themselves trailing 17-9 at the break.
The Marlins kicked three penalty goals and led 9-3 after 30 minutes before Norths’ scored a counterattack try against the run of play to take a 10-9 lead.
On the stroke of half time, Norths’ centre Nathan Russell then took an intercept as Manly tried to run the ball out of their own end and scored to give the home side an unlikely half time advantage.
Manly backrower Langi Gleeson, who started on the bench, made his presence felt quickly and scored in the 52nd minute to reduce the deficit, but Norths’ responded almost immediately, with fullback Josh Henderson crossing for his second try of the afternoon to give the Shoremen a 27-19 lead.
Manly refused to go away though. The Marlins added a penalty goal in the 65th minute, then levelled the scores with five minutes remaining through replacement prop Neori Nadruku.
With all signs pointing towards extra time, Norths charged down a Manly clearance kick deep in Marlins’ territory. The ball fell kindly to Nick Duffy, who spun the ball wide to Cameron to score the match winner.
Norths now earn a week off before the preliminary final while Manly will return to North Sydney Oval next Saturday to face Eastwood.
Eastwood 36-23 Eastern Suburbs
Eastwood taught a young Eastern Suburbs’ side a lesson in finals footy with a dominant 36-23 victory over the highly touted and in form Beasties.
Easts opened the scoring when young halves Jack Bowen and Teddy Wilson combined for the opening try and appeared to have the upper hand.
But Eastwood, on the back of a dominant scrum and clever game management, forced the Beasties into an arm wrestle and kicked four penalty goals to lead 12-10 at half time.
Both sides kicked a penalty goal each early in the second half, before Easts finally caved to the relentless Eastwood pressure.
Woodies prop James Wayland barged over from close range in the 55th minute to give his side a 22-13 lead.
10 minute later, again on the back of a dominant scrum, the Eastwood backs attacked from inside their own half against a 14-man Easts’ defensive line and eventually scored their second five pointer through lock Michael Icely.
The Woodies then sealed the result with an intercept try to winger Fabian Goodall minutes later.
Easts scored two late tries to add some respectability to the scoreline but weren’t really in the contest from midway through the second half.
They bow out early again in 2022 and will have a lot of soul searching to do at Woollahra in the coming months after an underwhelming campaign.
Eastwood will face Manly next week at North Sydney Oval and look extremely battle hardened at the right time of the season.
Gordon 36-20 Warringah
Gordon hooker Mahe Vailanu starred for the Stags in a fairly convincing 36-20 victory over Warringah at Rat Park on Sunday.
Vailanu scored on the stroke of half time to give the visitors a 26-15 half time lead, then set up the try of the match early in the second half.
Warringah opened the scoring in the third minute on the back of a Gordon lineout mistake, but the Stags quickly responded scoring twice in three minutes through forwards James Lough and Tristan Fuli to take a 12-5 lead.
Jordy Goddard then extended Gordon’s lead with a try from close range in the 28th minute.
Warringah prop Sateki Latu scored late in the first half to reduce the deficit to just four points, but the Rats invited Gordon straight back down into their half and Vailanu crossed on the stroke of half time to give his side a 26-15 lead.
With the match in the balance, Gordon executed one of the set piece tries of the season.
From an attacking lineout near the halfway line, the Stags hit a runner in the midfield. Harrison Goddard then swung play back to Vailanu on the short side, who then reversed the play again and threw an inside ball to Reece MacDonald. Macdonald linked back with Vailanu, who then threw a cut out ball to winger Will Terry to score one of the tries of the season.
Sateki Latu scored to give Rats fans hope of a comeback, but that was short-lived, with replacement prop John Akau-ola-Laula barging over from close range in the 76th minute to seal a 36-20 victory and a date with Randwick at Coogee Oval next Sunday.