Sheehan kicks Rats to victory over Randwick
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Saturday, 9 August 2008
NSWRU Media Unit
Warringah have turned around a 59-point loss to Randwick in their first meeting this year to record a 14-11 victory at Pittwater Rugby Park.
Brett Sheehan kicked the match-winning penalty for Warringah.
Brett Sheehan kicked the match-winning penalty for Warringah. [2008 Tooheys New Shute Shield Round 19 - Warringah v Randwick]
Metui Maile looks to break the line.
Metui Maile looks to break the line. [2008 Tooheys New Shute Shield Round 19 - Warringah v Randwick]
Gordon prop Ofa Fainga'anuku.
Gordon prop Ofa Fainga'anuku. [2008 Tooheys New Shute Shield Round 19 - Manly v Gordon]
Manly No.8 Mark Fisher charges downfield.
Manly No.8 Mark Fisher charges downfield. [2008 Tooheys New Shute Shield Round 19 - Manly v Gordon]
Will Hunt (l) and Sam Norton-Knight (r) celebrate Anthony Shortis' try.
Will Hunt (l) and Sam Norton-Knight (r) celebrate Anthony Shortis' try. [2008 Tooheys New Shute Shield Round 19 - Northern Suburbs v Parramatta]
Paula Kaveinga breaks the Norths defence.
Paula Kaveinga breaks the Norths defence. [2008 Tooheys New Shute Shield Round 19 - Northern Suburbs v Parramatta]
Al Campbell on the charge.
Al Campbell on the charge. [2008 Tooheys New Shute Shield Round 19 - Eastwood v Sydney University]
Eastwood's Marty Wilson looks to offload.
Eastwood's Marty Wilson looks to offload. [2008 Tooheys New Shute Shield Round 19 - Eastwood v Sydney University]
The hard-fought victory was sealed with a Brett Sheehan penalty goal in the dying moments, however despite the result Warringah remain fifth on the Tooheys New Shute Shield ladder.
In fact, despite upsets, big margins, close margins, comebacks and bonus points, all teams remained in the positions on the competition ladder they occupied coming into Round 19.
WARRINGAH V RANDWICK at Pittwater Rugby Park
A Randwick side packed with Test and Super Rugby talent has gone down for the second time in as many weeks, with Warringah defeating the Galloping Greens 14-11 at Pittwater Rugby Park.
Randwick opened the scoring in the seventh minute when Patrick Phibbs picked up the ball out the side of a Warringah scrum win and ran 35 metres to score.
Unlikely kicker Stephen Hoiles missed the conversion from 20m in from touch but made amends ten minutes later by kicking a penalty to extend the lead to 8-0.
Warringah had the best of the next ten minutes however were guilty of turning over too much ball in good field position, letting the Wicks off the hook.
Randwick too had their opportunities as the half entered its final ten minutes but the Warringah defence did well to shut down their star-studded opponents.
When Randwick was forced to kick in the shadows of half-time, Mark Gerrard replied by sending Phibbs deep into his own quarter. The half's clearance was well short of its intended distance, and after the ball was returned strongly by Ross Duncan, Brock McGarity backed up to score 15 seconds before the bell.
Brett Sheehan's sideline conversion attempt went wide, giving Randwick a three-point lead at the break.
Both sides started the second half with plenty of aggression and Julian Pritchard was repeatedly chatting with the captains to calm down their troops.
First points of the half went to Warringah, with Sheehan hitting an easy penalty to tie the game 8-all in the 54th minute.
Eventually the referee's patience ran out and when Pingi Talaapitaga and Phibbs started throwing punches, both sides were reduced to 14 men for ten minutes.
The players off opened up play with some exciting end-to-end Rugby, however defence continued to win out as the match entered the final 20 minutes.
Shortly after the players returned from the sin bin, Sheehan kicked a crucial penalty to give the Rats a three-point advantage in the 72nd minute.
However Josh Valentine tied the game back up with a drop goal with five minutes to play setting up a grandstand finish.
With three minutes on the clock Ben Mowen was penalised for slowing down a counterattack giving Sheehan a 45m attempt to regain the lead, which he nailed.
Randwick attacked straight from the kick-off however a wide pass was ruled forward, allowing Warringah to wind down the clock from the scrum and seal an important win to stay in the top five, now just four points adrift of third.
Warringah 14 (Brock McGarity try; Brett Sheehan 3 pens) d Randwick 11 (Patrick Phibbs try; Stephen Hoiles pen, Josh Valentine drop) at Pittwater Rugby Park. Half-time: Randwick 8-5. Referee: Julian Pritchard
WEST HARBOUR V EASTERN SUBURBS at Concord Oval
Eastern Suburbs has handed West Harbour their fifth defeat in seven weeks in emphatic fashion, triumphing 62-25 at Concord Oval.
The Beasts scored nine tries to three, and with Randwick's defeat now move within three points of third on the ladder.
Tom Azar, Luke Irwin and Matt McGann each scored two tries for Easts, while new Wallaby Timana Tahu scored for the Pirates along with Rory Sidey who played his last game for West Harbour before heading to Wales.
West Harbour remains in the top six, but their task doesn't get any easier next week against Gordon.
Eastern Suburbs 62 (Tom Azar, Luke Irwin, Matt McGann, Matt Toomua, Tom Egan, Saia Faingaa tries; Gavin Debartolo 4 cons, pen, Anthony Faingaa 3 cons) d West Harbour 25 (Nick Reily, Timana Tahu, Rory Sidey tries; Ben Martin 2 cons, 2 pens) at Concord Oval. Half-time: Eastern Suburbs 29-6. Referee: Nathan Pearce
MANLY V GORDON at Manly Oval
Gordon survived a second half comeback to score a bonus point victory over Manly to stay clear in second on the Shute Shield ladder.
The Highlanders streaked away to a 26-0 half-time lead, and while Manly scored the last 19 points of the match the margin was far too great to close.
Sisa Waqa scored a hat-trick for Gordon, while Manly's second half comeback earned them a four-try bonus point to stay ahead of Parramatta on the ladder.
Gordon 38 (Sisa Waqa 3, Matt MacDougall, Kingsley Seale, Craig Thomas tries; Dave Harvey 4 cons) d Manly 26 (Will Brame, Adam D'Arcy, Elvis Taione, Lupini Siale tries; Adam D'Arcy 3 cons) at Manly Oval. Half-time: Gordon 26-0. Referee: George Ayoub
SOUTHERN DISTRICTS V PENRITH at Forshaw Rugby Park
Penrith has recorded its third win of the season with a bonus point victory over Southern Districts at Forshaw Rugby Park, effectively handing the Rebels the wooden spoon for 2008.
The Emus built on a 10-5 half-time lead to win the match 27-20, with Sia'a Taveuveu scoring two tries.
The loss is Southern Districts' 17th in a row, and their prospects of getting into the winners list before the end of the season isn't strong with matches to come against Eastwood, Warringah and Sydney University.
Penrith 27 (Sia'a Taveuveu 2, Rob Carlson, Luke Williams tries; Jeremy Su'a 2 cons, pen) d Southern Districts 20 (Nic Henderson, Kane Douglas, Luke Milton tries; Luke Milton con, Matt Troubille pen) at Forshaw Rugby Park. Half-time: Penrith 10-5. Referee: Andrew Lees
EASTWOOD V SYDNEY UNIVERSITY at T.G. Millner Field
Eastwood made a courageous second half comeback against the competition front-runners however Sydney University had already established a match-winning lead in their 29-17 victory at T.G. Millner Field.
The Students scored five first half tries to lead 29-0 at the break, however Eastwood never gave up, scoring 17 unanswered points in the second half.
The Woods had more opportunities to close the gap further, however they couldn't capitalise and remain eight points behind West Harbour on the ladder.
Sydney University 29 (Jerry Yanuyanutawa, Nathan Charles, Nick Edwards, Dan P Kelly, Nathan Trist tries; Daniel Halangahu 2 cons) d Eastwood 17 (Todd Pearce, Josh Holmes, Ben Batger tries; Ben Batger con) at T.G. Millner Field. Half-time: Sydney University 29-0. Referee: Ian Smith
NORTHERN SUBURBS V PARRAMATTA at North Sydney Oval
A last minute penalty to Chris Burnett has given Northern Suburbs a one-point victory over Parramatta at North Sydney Oval.
The Two Blues scored six tries to four, however their errant goal-kicking came back to haunt them with Burnett completing his 17-point haul with the match-winning kick.
Despite the win Norths remain three points behind Parramatta who earned two bonus points from the loss.
Wallaby hooker Tatafu Polota-Nau scored a double for Parramatta, while pint-sized Corey Brown also touched down twice for the Shoremen.
Northern Suburbs 37 (Corey Brown 2, Anthony Shortis, Andrew Smith tries; Chris Burnett 4 cons, 3 pens) d Parramatta 36 (Tatafu Polota-Nau 2, Steve Mafi, Winney Paulo, Dave Alo, Tito Mua tries; Tom Woods 3 cons) at North Sydney Oval. Half-time: Northern Suburbs 17-12. Referee: Damien Mitchelmore.