By MARK CASHMAN

Sydney Uni survived a 17-point surge from West Harbour in the first half of the battle of the inner west to grab a 50-29 victory that sees the Students sit in second place on the Shute Shield competition table.

Uni had bounced out to a 14-0 lead early in the first half but Wests got their game into gear and posted tries to Dion Spice and James Turner along with a penalty goal and conversions to Patrick Pellegrini to grab a three point lead.

But the Students can take an opportunity and they worked their way back into the lead with tries to hooker Patrick O’Doherty and Jack McCalman restoring some sort of order.

They went further ahead just after the break with a try to Sevens flyer Angus Bell but a yellow card to James Armstrong invited the Pirates back into the contest.

Uni coach Michael Hodge said there was some great free flowing action throughout the 80 minutes.

“I was particularly happy with our forwards, who really stepped up against the very big and experienced West Harbour pack,” Hodge observed.

“There were some epic tries scored across the entire 80 minutes and I think will put us in good shape to take on Easts this weekend who were good against Souths at Forshaw.”

Wests coach Mark Gudmunson praised his side’s ability to work their way back into the contest.

“It was exactly as we thought, a well drilled team that would capitalise on West Harbour mistakes,” he said.

“But our ability to take a deep breath and stay with the plan was a big credit to how far we have come as a team and within the blink of an eye we were up 17-14.

“We got a few tough calls and Uni took advantage. We were really confident of a big second half and we threw everything at them.

“It ended up being three tries to two on the second stanza with some real exciting rugby played and the crowd at Uni was appreciative of the style of football played.”

Dion Spice was good in his 50th game for the club while the forward pack was strong and scrum very good and a real weapon.

Connor Chittenden and Justin Tavae both had strong games.

SYDNEY UNI 50 (Patrick O’Doherty, Jack McCalman, Hamish Dunbar, Angus Bell, James Armstrong, Tim Clements, Ben Carolan tries; Connor O’Shea 5 conversions) d WEST HARBOUR 29 (Dion Spice, Patrick Pellgrini, James Turner tries, penalty try; Pellegrini 2 conversions, pen goal)

IMAGE: JEREMY BRENNAN / WEST HARBOUR