Shute Shield Round 15B Review
A thrilling 36-33 bonus-point victory over Randwick has put Warringah in finals contention, helping them climb two places to seventh on the Shute Shield ladder with just round remaining.
The Rats overturned an 18-point deficit to secure a four-try 36-33 victory over Randwick, sealing the bonus point and wrapping up the win in the dying stages to rise above West Harbour, who claimed only a single bonus after going down 29-22 to Parramatta at Merrylands RSL Ruby Park and now drop to ninth.
In other round 15B matches, fifth-place Northern Suburbs continued their rich vein of form, upsetting the Marlins at Manly Oval with a clinical 33-12 point victory.
The Shoremen got off to a great start with early tries to fullback Mitch Walton and winger Samu Wara giving them the advantage to the Marlins' single first half five-pointer.
"We were very clinical and the defence was terrific," said Northern Suburbs' coach Scott Fava.
Fava was quick to praise the efforts of flyhalf Dave Harvey who racked up an impressive 18 individual points and had a big influence in the Norths' victory. "He's a great manager of things - he gels it, glues it together."
Conversely, Manly were disappointed with their performance in the windy conditions, coach Tim Lane calling his side's effort "very poor and that's being generous."
In the final match of the penultimate pool round, Gordon sealed a four-try bonus point with a 33-22 point defeat over Penrith at Chatswood Oval. The Highlanders were tested in the first half with Penrith dominant up front, but an individual 18 point contribution from Gordon centre Tom Hill helped edge out the Emus.
"They were on top of us physically in the first half," said Gordon No.8 Mark Johnson. "But after the break we got back into our structure and turned on our defence which saw us win the game."
The match also marked the final Shute Shield game refereed by Daniel Cheever, who retired from first grade duties after the match. Cheever has refereed 96 first grade games, the 18th the most Shute Shield games of all time.
Warringah 36 (2 Luke Holmes, 2 Edward Doyle, Hamish Angus tries; Hamish Angus 4 cons, pen) d Randwick 33 (3 Peter Samu, Tom Joseph tries; Toby Browne 2 cons, 3 pens)
Parramatta 29 (Iese Leota, Kaleb Rech, Rodney Ma'a, Moses Tavola tries; Tom Woods 3 cons, pen) d West Harbour 22 (Shaun Treweek, Tito Mua, Alfred Pinomi tries; Henry Seavula con, pen, Shaun Treweek con)
Northern Suburbs 33 (Chirs Tuatara-Morrison, Samu Wara, Mitch Walton tries; Dave Harvey 3 cons, 4 pens) d Manly 12 (Caydern Neville, Chris Cottee; Scott Daruda con)
Gordon 33 (2 Tom Hill, Hugh Cropley, Andrew Chapman, Matthew McDougall; Tom Hill 4 con) d Penrith 22 (Cohen Masson, Tala Mapesone, Mark Murray, Chris Aunise-Scalan tries; Fred Tuua con)