It will be a clash of the titans this week, as top-of-the-table Northern Suburbs and Southern Districts battle it out for supremacy in Round 5 of the Shute Shield.
Both undefeated so far, only one point separates the teams at the top of the table. And as the sides prepare to go head to head live on ABC TV this Saturday afternoon (3pm), Souths’ inside centre Apo Latunipulu is backing his forward pack to lay the platform for fifth consecutive win.
“Our scrums are definitely a platform we’ll use, as is our defence – something we have been priding ourselves on this season,” said Latunipulu. “We will definitely be using them to shut down Norths’ attack.”
Neither Souths nor Norths have had it easy this season, with several tough matches to date but both expect this week’s top of the table clash at North Sydney Oval to be their biggest challenge yet.
“It will be a tough match for the whole 80 minutes but I think the team that executes their game play well will be the victor in the end,” said Latunipulu.
Elsewhere in Round 5, Luke Holmes will assume the captaincy from brother Josh as Warringah (fourth) look to build on last week’s win over Sydney University when they host 10-placed Randwick and Penrith will continue the search for a first win against the Students, who sit just four places above them, at Nepean Rugby Park. Former All Black winger Sosene Anesi will make his first Shute Shield start for mid-table Parramatta this season, when he captains the side against second-bottom side Gordon in Chatswood. Third-placed Eastwood will take on West Harbour at T.G. Millner, knowing that a win could see them snare jump up to second on the ladder and eighth-placed Eastern Suburbs take on sixth-placed Manly at Woollahra where referee Nathan Pearce will be celebrating refereeing his 100th first grade match.
As always the 2013 competition will be broadcast live on ABC1 throughout NSW and the ACT on Saturdays from 3pm. Interstate viewers can watch a full replay of each week’s Shute Shield game at 3.30am on Tuesday mornings on ABC1 nationally and rugby fans everywhere can catch all the action online at anytime on ABC iView.
Alternatively, rugby fans across NSW can tune in to ABC Local Radio’s new rugby show, Settling the Score with Niav Owens between 2pm and 5pm every Saturday, for all of your country rugby and Shute Shield news. You can TEXT the program with score updates from whichever game you’re at on 0467 920 222 every Saturday afternoon. Make sure your team gets a mention each week and keep Niav up to date with the latest scores from your competition.
Shute Shield Round 5 matches – Saturday May 4
Northern Suburbs v Southern Districts @ North Sydney Oval (3pm live on ABC TV)
Northern Suburbs: 1 Cruz Ah Nau, 2 Will Weeks, 3 Nick Lah, 4 Matt White, 5 Chris Thomson, 6 Ben Matwijow, 7 Tim Fitzgerald, 8 AJ Gilbert (C), 9 Liam Walker, 10 Scott Daruda, 11 Corey Brown, 12 Lachlan Porteous, 13 Bill Meakes, 14 Blake Murray, 15 Liam Windon.
Southern Districts: 1 Duncan Chubb, 2 Andrew Sulter 3 Tim Metcher, 4 Andrew Leota, 5 Jed Holloway, 6 Luke Smart, 7 Jono Hayes (C), 8 Lopeti Timani, 9 Grayson Hart, 10 Rohan Saifoloi, 11 Alex Gibbon, 12 Apo Latunipulu, 13 Denny Godinet, 14 Oleni Ngungutau, 15 Paul Asquith
Referee: Andrew Lees
Warringah v Randwick @ Pittwater Rugby Park (3pm)
Warringah: 1 Ben Ryan, 2 Luke Holmes (C), 3 Wayne Borsak, 4 Ben Adams, 5 James King, 6 Sam Ward, 7 Mark Porpigilia, 8 Boyd Killingworth, 9 Joshua Holmes, 10 David Harvey, 11 Brad Dixon, 12 Michael Adams, 13 Dylan Smouha, 14 Conrad Gillingham, 15 David Feltscheer.
Randwick: 1 Faitotoa Asa, 2 Nio Halangahu, 3 Richard Aho, 4 Bryce Speechley, 5 Lai Vatadroka, 6 Seilala Lam (C), 7 Tom Conor, 8 Peter Samu, 9 Harrison Boileau, 10 Cayden Matehaere, 11 Timothy Wright, 12 David Horwitz, 13 Terrence Hepetema, 14 Rennie Lautolo, 15 Ethan Ford.
Referee: James Leckie
Penrith v Sydney University @Nepean Rugby Park (3pm)
Penrith: 1 Peter Niumata, 2 Kerren Straker, 3 Sione Matangi, 4 Willie Tooala, 5 Sione Fifita, 6 Vai Sosaite, 7 Adam Barrington, 8 Leo Burgess, 9 Paula Katoa, 10 Siaa Taveuveu (C), 11 James Umu, 12 Fokolulu Taumalolo, 13 Jesse Leota, 14 John Maumau, 15 Wilson Silipa.
Sydney University: 1 Alisdair King, 2 James Willan, 3 Guy Millar, 4 Sam Jeffries, 5 Liam Winton (C), 6 Tom Boidin, 7 David Hickey, 8 Benn Melrose, 9 Richard Draper, 10 Stefano Hunt, 11 Greg Jeloudev, 12 James McMahon, 13 James Dargaville, 14 John Rudd, 15 Nathan Trist.
Referee: Richard Goswell
Eastern Suburbs v Manly @Woollahra Oval (3pm)
Eastern Suburbs: 1 Sione Kolo, 2 Alex Walker, 3 Rob McMicken, 4 Richard Stanford, 5 Keliti Vaingalo, 6 Andrew Shaw, 7 Ryan Hodson, 8 Pauli Taumoepeau (C), 9 Luke Irwin, 10 Henry Hudson, 11 Charlie Clifton, 12 Tom Azar, 13 Apakuki Ma’afu, 14 Anton Lavin, 15 Will Fay.
Manly: 1 Eddie Aholelei, 2 Pat Leofa, 3 Tim Fairbrother, 4 Ed Gower (C), 5 Dylan Sigg, 6 Harry Bergelin, 7 Kotoni Ale, 8 Jordy Reid, 9 Adam Crerar, 10 BJ Hartman, 11 Richard Hooper, 12 Brian Sefanaia, 13 Will Helu, 14 Damien Reti, 15 Jacob Woodhouse.
Referee: Nathan Pearce
Eastwood v West Harbour @ T. G. Millner Field (3pm)
Eastwood: 1 Jedd Gillespie, 2 Todd Pearce, 3 Dylan Brass, 4 Steve Cummins, 5 Mitch Lees, 6 Sione Tau, 7 Hugh Perrett (C), 8 Jared Barry, 9 Shahin Proctor, 10 Jimmy Hilgendorf, 11 Nick Batger, 12 Michael McDougall, 13 Cam Mitchell, 14 Nick Reilly, 15 Ben Batger.
West Harbour: 1 David Lolohea, 2 Reg De Jager, 3 Vaughan Lomax, 4 Alfred Pinomi, 5 Chris Simons, 6 Tom Games (C), 7 Cohen Masson, 8 Matt Coles, 9 David Osofua, 10 Jack Debreczeni, 11 Tito Mua, 12 Winston Wilson, 13 Alofa Alofa, 14 Macquaire Tatola, 15 Dylan Taikato-Simpson.
Referee: Ian Smith
Gordon v Parramatta @Chatswood Oval (3pm)
Gordon: 1 Tobias Gukibau (C), 2 Jim Handlin, 3 Willy Maumalanga, 4 Mark Johnson, 5 Seb Murphy, 6 Andrew Turner, 7 Gordon Broome, 8 Jono Broome, 9 Terry Preston, 10 Mitch Walton, 11 Vesi Tokalaulevu, 12 Tom Mathews, 13 Mark Preston, 14 Richie Williams, 15 Will Shirvington.
Parramatta: 1 Nick Blacklock, 2 Myles Hunkin, 3 Chris Seuteni, 4 Charlie Leaeno, 5 Adam Coleman, 6 Evan Olmstead, 7 Rodney Ma’a, 8 Josh Kaifa, 9 Troy Lobendahn, 10 Dan Rawaqa, 11 Damien Fakafanua, 12 Tukia Muli, 13 Dan Yakopo, 14 Moses Tavola, 15 Sosene Anesi (C).
Referee: Anthony Moyes
