Easts on the move with big win over the Marlins
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Saturday, 2 August 2008
NSWRU Media Unit
Eastern Suburbs have stamped their intentions on the 2008 season with a 43-3 victory over Manly in Round 18 of the Tooheys New Shute Shield.
Lloyd Jones crosses for Easts' seventh try in the 79th minute.
Lloyd Jones crosses for Easts' seventh try in the 79th minute. [2008 Tooheys New Shute Shield Round 18 - Eastern Suburbs v Manly]
Manly prop James Lakepa shows his ball skills.
Manly prop James Lakepa shows his ball skills. [2008 Tooheys New Shute Shield Round 18 - Eastern Suburbs v Manly]
Matt MacDougall scored a double for Gordon against Southern Districts.
Matt MacDougall scored a double for Gordon against Southern Districts. [2008 Tooheys New Shute Shield Round 18 - Gordon v Southern Districts]
Michael McLeod attacks for Southern Districts.
Michael McLeod attacks for Southern Districts. [2008 Tooheys New Shute Shield Round 18 - Gordon v Southern Districts]
Julian Salvi attacks for Norths.
Julian Salvi attacks for Norths. [2008 Tooheys New Shute Round 18 - Northern Suburbs v West Harbour]
Chris Aho on the rampage.
Chris Aho on the rampage. [2008 Tooheys New Shute Round 18 - Northern Suburbs v West Harbour]
The Beasts leapfrogged West Harbour who went down to Northern Suburbs and now sit in fourth on the ladder.
The top two teams enjoyed victories over the bottom two sides, Warringah posted a big win over Eastwood while Parramatta upset a talented Randwick outfit.
EASTERN SUBURBS V MANLY at Woollahra Oval
Eastern Suburbs scored 24 points in an eight minute stretch before and after half-time as they ran away with their clash with Manly, eventually triumphing 43-3 at Woollahra Oval.
Saia Faingaa scored a double for the Beasts who scored seven tries to nil in a dominant display which moved them into the top four.
Easts had the best of play early on, however after spending most of the opening ten minutes in the Marlins half they simply couldn't turn it into points.
Manly's first sustained territorial advantage was looking good until a high tackle brought it to a halt, Adam D'Arcy piloting the ensuing penalty in the 15th minute for a 3-0 lead.
Sadly, they were to be the only points for the Marlins.
Easts did not take long to reply, with territory turning into points. When Lloyd Jones was held up under the posts, the Beasts kept it in tight from the scrum for Ed Brenac to burrow over in the 19th minute.
Gavin Debartolo's conversion gave Easts a 7-3 advantage with a quarter of the match down.
Manly returned fire with Josh Gamgee's kicking gaining good field position, however the Easts defence stayed solid and Debartolo repeatedly kicked the Beasts out of danger.
At around the 30 minute mark the pendulum swung back towards Easts, who were enjoying the advantage of the wind in the first half, with the Marlins defence and lineout under continual pressure.
Finally Tom Azar crossed in the 39th minute after Lupini Siale conceded a penalty by batting the ball into touch 5m from his own line. Debartolo's conversion hit the upright and went away, leaving the Beasts with a 12-3 lead at the break.
As soon as the teams came out for the second half, Saia Faingaa collected Gamgee's kick and charged towards the line. He offloaded in the tackle to Tom Egan who was brought down a metre short, however Faingaa backed up to score in the left corner with just 25 seconds gone.
Debartolo missed to conversion to keep the margin at two converted tries.
Easts went straight on the attack, and a lineout 5m out in the sixth minute was funnelled back to Faingaa after the throw-in who touched down for his second try.
Debartolo converted from the sideline and Easts had scored 17 points in the five minutes either side of half-time, and in doing so Manly could see their season slipping away.
Two minutes later Manly attacked but a turnover from Matt McGann resulted in John Collignon streaking away for a try which Debartolo converted to keep the scoreboard ticking for the Beasts.
Nothing was going right for the Marlins who lost scrumhalf Paddy Pearce and his replacement Dave Kennett in the next ten minutes, however despite their run of outs the Marlins held on showing a lot of resolve in the face of a match already lost.
It took until the 74th minute before Easts crossed again, and it was weight of possession and field position which saw Aaron Tawera score from close range.
Lloyd Jones then scored Easts' seventh try with a minute remaining, with Vitori Buatava's conversion resulting in the final score, 43-3.
Eastern Suburbs 43 (Saia Faingaa 2, Ed Brenac, Tom Azar, John Collignon, Aaron Tawera, Lloyd Jones tries; Gavin Debartolo 3 cons, Vitori Buatava con) d Manly 3 (Adam D'Arcy pen) at Woollahra Oval. Half-time: Eastern Suburbs 12-3. Referee: James Leckie.
GORDON V SOUTHERN DISTRICTS at Chatswood Oval
Gordon have regained second place on the Tooheys New Shute Shield ladder with a 43-5 victory over Southern Districts at Chatswood Oval.
The Highlanders jumped out to a 26-0 lead in the opening stanza, and while the Rebels showed great heart after the break they simply could not hold back Gordon's dominant attack.
With Randwick upset by Parramatta, Gordon's bonus point victory sees them move back into second position on the ladder, eight points adrift of Sydney University.
Gordon 43 (Matt MacDougall 2, Alex Gluth, Nifo Nifo, Craig Thomas, Vinnie Byrne, Sisa Waqa tries; Donny Nepia 4 cons) d Southern Districts 7 (Terry Autagavia try; Steve Peters con) at Chatswood Oval. Half-time: Gordon 26-0. Referee: James Scholtens.
PENRITH V SYDNEY UNIVERSITY at Western Weekender Stadium
Sydney University have scored 38 unanswered points in each half to hand Penrith a 76-0 defeat at Western Weekender Stadium.
Prop Jerry Yanuyanutawa grabbed a hat-trick for the Students, with Nathan Trist, Ed Jenkins and Nick Haydon all crossing for doubles.
The win sees the Students extend their gap at the top of the Shute Shield table to eight points, while Penrith have now conceded 229 points in the last three weeks.
Sydney University 76 (Jerry Yanuyanutawa 3, Nathan Trist 2, Ed Jenkins 2, Nick Haydon 2, Laurie Weeks, Tim Davidson, Nick Edwards tries; Dan P Kelly 8 cons) d Penrith 0 at Western Weekender Stadium. Half-time: Sydney University 38-0. Referee: Ian Smith.
EASTWOOD V WARRINGAH at T.G. Millner Field
Warringah have put a big dent in Eastwood's finals aspirations with a 53-21 victory at T.G. Millner Field.
Brett Sheehan was a star for the Rats and bagged a double, while Clint Eadie - returning from injury - also crossed twice for Warringah on the way to a personal haul of 23 points.
The Rats were out of the blocks quickly and went to the break with a 20-point advantage which they built on in the second half.
The match was held up for around 15 minutes in the first half with an ambulance needed to attend to an injury to Eastwood flyer Jesse Leota.
Warringah 53 (Clint Eadie 2, Brett Sheehan 2, Scott Fardy, Richard Brown, Beau Robinson, Brock McGarity tries; Clint Eadie 5 cons, pen) d Eastwood 21 (Josh Holmes 2, Hugh Perrett tries; Nathan Powyer 2 cons, Lachie Turner con) at T.G. Millner Field. Half-time: Warringah 27-7. Referee: Matt Goddard.
NORTHERN SUBURBS V WEST HARBOUR at North Sydney Oval
In the first half of a union-league double header at North Sydney Oval, Northern Suburbs came home with a wet sail to defeat West Harbour 37-24.
The Pirates jumped out to a 17-10 lead at the break, however on the back of a three tries to two performance in the second half, the Shoremen out-pointed West Harbour to record just their sixth win of the season.
West Harbour's loss is their fourth in their last six matches, and they have now slipped to sixth on the competition ladder.
Northern Suburbs 37 (Al Manning, Will Hunt, Julian Salvi, Andrew Smith tries; Chris Burnett 4 cons, 3 pens) d West Harbour 24 (Lester Salanoa 2, Rory Sidey tries; Ben Martin 3 cons, pen) at North Sydney Oval. Half-time: West Harbour 17-10. Referee: Daniel Cheever.
PARRAMATTA V RANDWICK at Two Blues Park
Parramatta has pulled off arguably the upset of the season by defeating Randwick 17-10 at Two Blues Park.
With Randwick boasting an all-star side including Sekope Kepu, Adam Freier, Mark Chisholm, Ben Mowen, Pat Phibbs, Josh Valentine and Francis Fainifo, Parramatta were not overawed at the task at hand running in 17 unanswered points in the first half.
While the Galloping Greens managed two second half tries to close the gap, the Two Blues hung on for a seven point victory.
Parramatta 17 (Steve Mafi, Tito Mua, Paula Kaveinga tries; Tom Woods con) d Randwick 10 (Ben Mowen, Rodney Voullaire tries) at Two Blues Park. Half-time: Parramatta 17-0. Referee: Grant MacNeill.