Northern Suburbs v Southern Districts
In a tough contest, Southern Districts held tight in defence to keep out a strong Northern Suburbs attack in the last quarter. With the breeze behind them, the Rebels took the lead early in the game with a penalty and converted try from Andrew Leota giving them 10-0 lead on 20 minutes. They hung on until the 38th minute, when Norths’ fullback Liam Windon ran away for an 80m try against the run of play to narrow the half time gap to five points.
An early mistake from the Shoremen just minutes into the second half allowed the Rebels to extend their lead with big HSBC Waratahs No. 8 Lopeti Timani crossing the line after a break downfield.
Minutes later, a third five-pointer from Luke Smart gave Souths a 22 to 5 lead but the Shoremen hit back quickly, making the most of the conditions. A well executed backline move resulted in Corey Brown crossing the line and their second half revival continued as Ben Matwijow added another try and Brown converted to bring the score to 22-17.
Playing into the strong wind, a massive defence effort from Souths held the home side out and earned them their fifth consecutive victory to snatch top spot on the Shute Shield ladder, while Norths’ loss saw them drop to third.
Acknowledging his side’s crucial efforts without the ball, Souths’ flyhalf Rohan Saifoloi said, “Our defence was our most important aspect.
“I think in past games and past rounds we’ve missed a lot of tackles and we’ve been really weak in that one channel. Today we really worked on that and it came off.”
Said disappointed Norths’ prop Nick Lah, “It was tough. There was a lot of running rugby and we gave them too much of a start in the first half.
“We put a good effort in the second half but we couldn’t get back to them in the end.”
Southern Districts 22 (Andrew Leota, Luke Smart, Lopeti Timani tries; Rohan Saifoloi 2 cons, pen) d Northern Suburbs 17 (Corey Brown, Ben Matwijow, Liam Windon tries; Corey Brown con) at North Sydney Oval. Referee: Andrew Lees.
