Tooheys New Shute Shield returns to the SFS
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Wednesday, 16 April 2008
NSWRU Media Unit
Sydney Club Rugby returns to the Sydney Football Stadium this weekend when Northern Suburbs take on Sydney University in round four of the Tooheys New Shute Shield.
Andrew Smith on the attack for Northern Suburbs
Andrew Smith on the attack for Northern Suburbs
The match is being played as the curtain raiser to the HSBC Waratahs Super 14 clash with the Lions, with a strong crowd expected to get to the SFS early for the Shute Shield showdown.
The Students go into the match on maximum points after scoring bonus points victories in the opening three rounds.
But while the defending champions will go into the match as favourites, they won't have it all their own way against a Northern Suburbs outfit which is ruing a missed opportunity to also be at the top of the table.
Having scored 50 points in their opening two matches for the season and leading in the closing stages last week, Norths let in three tries in the final 10 minutes against Warringah to blemish what was a perfect season to date.
Sydney University have named an unchanged lineup this week, while Northern Suburbs have reshuffled their backline and included Casey Dunning at loosehead prop. A Canadian Test player, Dunning is the brother of Waratahs prop Matt and Eastwood No.8 Josh, and is in his first season at Norths after returning to Australia after stints with Pertemps Bees and London Irish.
Sydney University Head Coach Damien Hill says while he's happy to be on maximum points after the first three matches of the season, this week marks the beginning of an important stretch of matches which will show just where the Students are at.
"We've had three solid hitouts, but we haven't been fantastic," said Hill. "It's a long season but it's a good start.
"We were disappointed in our defence particularly in the second half [against Parramatta], and Norths have a lot of speed out wide so we're going to have to be on top of that.
"We have Norths, Easts and Gordon up next which is a tough stretch of matches, but we've been building for the game this weekend."
While Hill's charges have averaged over 43 points per match this season, the Uni coach has highlighted the front row battle as a key focus, with his young guns of Jerry Yanuyanutawa, Nathan Charles and Laurie Weeks set for a big showdown with Norths' engine room of Dunning, Al Manning and Nick Lah.
The ABC TV Match of the Day will see Manly travel to Concord Oval to take on West Harbour.
Manly have scored just one point from three home matches to start the season, while West Harbour are in the top six having won two of their first three matches.
The Tooheys New Shute Shield Match of the Day will be broadcast LIVE across NSW and the ACT on ABC 1 at 3:00pm, while it will also be screened nationally on the ABC's High Definition station, ABC HD Channel 20.
A full round four preview complete with teams will be released later this week.
Tooheys New Shute Shield - Round 4
Northern Suburbs v Sydney University at Sydney Football Stadium (Kick-off 2:45pm)
Eastern Suburbs v Warringah at Woollahra Oval (Kick-off 3:00pm)
Gordon v Eastwood at Chatswood Oval (Kick-off 3:00pm)
Randwick v Penrith at Coogee Oval (Kick-off 3:00pm)
Parramatta v Southern Districts at Two Blues Park (Kick-off 3:00pm)
West Harbour v Randwick at Concord Oval (Kick-off 3:10pm)