The West Harbour pirates will head to Concord Oval in search of treasure this weekend, when they take on competition leaders Eastwood in Round 14 of the Shute Shield.
In lethal form this season, the Pirates’ backline will face a stern test against an equally strong Eastwood defence in Saturday’s ABC TV match of the round.
From nine to 15, running rugby has become a feature of West Harbour matches, with the fourth-placed side having so far secured a four-try bonus point in all nine of its wins this season. By contrast, Eastwood have one of the best defensive records in the competition, having conceded only 234 points to West Harbour’s 406.
Of the club’s attacking success, Pirates’ coach Matt Briggs said, “If we’re going to score the four tries, first we’ve got to maintain possession and win our set piece, that’s going to be critical. “To dent the front lines, we need to be able to hold the ball in close, make a few strikes early and then set the backs alight.
Currently fourth, just two points off third-placed Souths and three points ahead of Manly, a victory over first-placed Eastwood would cement Wests’ spot in the top four. “If we could finish top four that would be very important,” said Briggs.
“The top four get a second bite at the cherry. So if you make a little mistake in the first semi-final you get a second chance, that’s why it’s critical to finish in the top four. Whilst we’ve probably exceeded expectations, the boys are pretty excited about the opportunity at the weekend. Even if we could be very competitive and come away with a bonus point or two against Eastwood, I think finishing top four won’t be unattainable.
In their most recent match, the Pirates proved devastating, with young flyhalf Jack Debreczeni and winger Alofa Alofa turning oppositions mistakes into points, time and time again to record an emphatic 67-32 win over Parramatta.
“Jack was very unlucky to miss out on the Australian Under 20s this year,” said Briggs. “There’s a lot of interest from Super Rugby, Jack is a young, talented number 10 and a real general around the park at such a young age. Of course Alofa on the wing is also a great finisher but he also injects himself into the line and makes a lot of attacking runs. Having said that we’ve got Henry (Seavula) there, who’s scoring a lot of tries this year as well, even Shaun Treweek at the back is doing really well too. We consider ourselves a very attacking side and a major threat, it will be a very interesting to see how we go against Eastwood who also have a very great attacking line.”
In the last match between the sides back in Round 5, it was Eastwood who came out on top, running away with a nine-try, 62-29 victory after sitting even at half time. But despite the win, Eastwood hooker Damien Fitzpatrick claims previous encounters count for nothing in Saturday’s battle. “Matches won earlier in the year have no bearing on how we play games later on.
“Yes we beat them in Round 5 but both teams have come a long way since then. We have particularly prided ourselves on our defence this year in tight and out-wide, by putting pressure on our opposition’s ball players we have been able to force turnovers and turn them into points.”
Elsewhere, Parramatta will be hoping to put a stop to a four-game losing streak as they look to repeat last season’s finals feat when they host Gordon at Merrylands in their Back to Parra Day. For the attractive price of $25, supporters can enjoy a pre-match luncheon in the newly refurbished Sports Bar, nicknamed The Two Blues Bar, before being transported to the game to enjoy all the action. Full information is available from their website www.twobluesrugby.com.au.
Also this Saturday, Randwick takes on Warringah at Coogee Oval, Sydney University hosts Penrith, Southern Districts (for the first time this season featuring Towering Tongan siblings Lopeti and Sitaleki Timani) go up against Northern Suburbs at Forshaw and Manly entertains Eastern Suburbs.
In other news, Randwick will hold its annual golf day event this Friday, July 19 at Randwick Golf Club. They have put the invitation out to anyone who may be interested in taking part in an entertaining day of prizes, drinks, lunch, guest speakers, raffles auctions and much more, all included in the price. Tickets are available for this fantastic event through event manager Jamie Lee Brown who can be contacted via email on info@randwickrugby.com.au.
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.
Photos care of Seiser Photography
Shute Shield Round 14 matches – Saturday July 20
Randwick v Warringah @ Coogee Oval (3pm)
Randwick: 1 Tristan Goodbody, 2 Nio Halangahu, 3 Faitotoa Asa, 4 Geoff Ingram, 5 William Munro, 6 Seilala Lam (C), 7 Tom Connor, 8 Nathan Paila, 9 Harrison Boileau, 10 David Horwitz, 11 Ethan Ford, 12 Pete Samu, 13 Terrence Hepetema, 14 Timothy Wright, 15 Rennie Lautolo.
Warringah: 1 Ben Ryan, 2 Luke Holmes (C), 3 Luke Preston, 4 Ben Adams, 5 Vincent Wright, 6 Mark Porpiglia, 7 James Casey, 8 Pierce Howell, 9 Joshua Holmes, 10 David Harvey, 11 Brad Dixon, 12 Edward Doyle, 13 Michael Adams, 14 Conrad Gillingham, 15 David Feltscheer.
Referee: Ian Smith
Sydney University v Penrith @ University Oval 1 (3pm)
Sydney University: 1 Jeremy Tilse, 2 James Willan, 3 Sam Talakai, 4 Sam Jefferies, 5 Byron Hodge, 6 Hugo Dessens, 7 Trent Dyer, 8 Tim Davidson (C), 9 Jock Merriman, 10 Stephano Hunt, 11 Greg Jeloudev, 12 Tom Carter, 13 James Dargaville, 14 Nathan Trist, 15 Tom Kingston.
Penrith: 1 Sione Matangi, 2 Kerren Straker (C), 3 Nigel Vaifale, 4 Iosua Tonga, 5 Sione Pusiaki Fifita, 6 Willie Tooala, 7 Leo Burgess, 8 Pita Tupou, 9 Solomona Silipa, 10 Simione Moelasi, 11 Paula Katoa, 12 Paueli Halafihi, 13 Wilson Silipa, 14 Keori Okati, 15 Kampo Sione.
Southern Districts v Northern Suburbs @ Forshaw Rugby Park (3pm)
Southern Districts: 1 Duncan Chubb, 2 Steve Fualau, 3 Tim Metcher, 4 Sitaleki Timani, 5 Luke Smart, 6 Lopeti Timani, 7 Jono Hayes (C), 8 Jed Holloway, 9 Dewet Roos, 10 Rohan Saifoloi, 11 Alex Gibbon, 12 Rayhan Laulala, 13 Apo Latunipalu, 14 Ollie Ngungutau, 15. Ben Volavola.
Northern Suburbs: 1 Dan Murray, 2 Will Weeks, 3 Nick Lah (C), 4 Ben Matwijow, 5 Chris Thompson, 6 Pat Sio, 7 Will Miller, 8 AJ Gilbert, 9 Michael Dowsett, 10 Scott Deruda, 11 Jac Cameron, 12 Elih Bailie, 13 Bill Meakes, 14 Peter Schuster, 15 Liam Windon.
Referee: Andrew Lees
Manly v Eastern Suburbs @ Manly Oval (3pm).
Manly: 1 Jim Gentle, 2 Dave Porecki, 3 Tim Fairbrother (C), 4 Ed Gower, 5 Cadeyrn Neville, 6 Jordy Reid, 7 Kotoni Ale, 8 Daniel Alley, 9 Fabian Natoli, 10 Marshall Milroy, 11 Jacob Woodhouse, 12 Brian Sefanaia, 13 Malietia Hingano, 14 Richard Hooper, 15 Adam D’Arcy.
Eastern Suburbs: 1 Sione Kolo, 2 John Ulugia, 3 Clay Brodie, 4 Richard Stanford, 5 Phil Mathers, 6 Pauli Taumoepeau (C), 7 Ryan Hodson, 8 Andrew Shaw, 9 Luke Irwin, 10 Henry Hudson, 11 Damon Anderson, 12 Will Fay, 13 Mark Murray, 14 Anton Lavin, 15 James Devlin.
Referee: Kane McBride
West Harbour v Eastwood @ Concord Oval (3pm)
West Harbour: 1 David Lolohea, 2 Reg De Jager (C), 3 Vaughan Lomax, 4 Alfred Pinomi, 5 Chris Simons, 6 Vaka Manu, 7 Cohen Masson, 8 Matt Coles 9 David Osofua, 10 Jack Debreczeni, 11 Tito Mua, 12 Winston Wilson, 13 Henry Seavula, 14 Alofa Alofa, 15 Shaun Treweek.
Eastwood: 1 Jed Gillespie, 2 Damien Fitzpatrick, 3 Dylan Brass, 4 Jared Barry, 5 Andrew Clyne, 6 Gareth Palamo, 7 Hugh Roach, 8 Hugh Perrett (C), 9 Mick Snowden, 10 Jimmy Hilgendorf, 11 Nick Batger, 12 Michael McDougall, 13 Cam Mitchell, 14 Tom Hill, 15 Ben Batger.
Referee: Angus Gardner
Parramatta v Gordon @ Merrylands RSL Rugby Park (3pm)
Parramatta: 1 Nick Blacklock, 2 Mathew Borg, 3 Luke Troy, 4 Charlie Leaeno, 5 Adam Coleman, 6 Josh Kaifa, 7 Rodney Ma’a, 8 Andrew Cox (C), 9 Kaleb Rech, 10 Tom Woods, 11 Damien Fakafanua, 12 Tukia Muli, 13 Lese Leota, 14 Lani Tiatia, 15 Moses Tavola.
Gordon: 1 Tobias Gukibau (C), 2 Ronald Hobden, 3 Salesi Maumalanga, 4 Roni Scarano, 5 Andrew Chapman, 6 Jack Dempsey, 7 Gordon Broome, 8 Luke Rissman, 9 Terry Preston, 10 Henry Carmichael, 11 Nick Walker, 12 Tom Mathews, 13 Lucas Simkin, 14 Mathew Mcdougal, 15 Mark Preston.
Referee: Graham Cooper
