Parramatta General Manager Michael Bell believes the Two Blues can bag a win against Warringah for the third year running when this sides meet this weekend.
Since 2006, the victor of the annual clash has been awarded the Noddy Sawtell Cup. A legend at both clubs, breakaway Robert ‘Noddy’ Sawtell played 100 grade games for Parramatta and 222 for the Warringah Rats through much of the 1980s before moving to coaching, guiding the Ratettes to their first ever Grand Final in 2003 and taking charge of the Australian women’s team. He passed away in 2005 at the age of 52.
And as well as tipping his team to come out on top in this Saturday’s ABC game of the week, Bell is predicting another high-scoring and entertaining match.
“It is always one of the most entertaining games of the year, both teams can score points and will play fast, running rugby, end to end,” he said.
The high-scoring, narrow losses recorded by both teams last week (Warringah lost 46-40 to West Harbour and Parramatta went down 31-40 to Eastern Suburbs) are typical of the teams’ try-scoring abilities, with having both racked up over 200 points already this season.
Having held the Cup for the last two years, Bell believes they can make home advantage count this year. “It always helps playing here, we pride ourselves on making the opposition uncomfortable when they’re on the field and the crowd isn’t afraid to let the other team know when they make a mistake!”
Although both sides favour running rugby, Bell says the weather may tempt the Rats to make use of the weapon boot of flyhalf Dave Harvey.
“We know Harvey loves to kick,” he said. “But if we keep the pill in hand we can take him out of the game. Our forwards will need to work hard in the wet, particularly as the Rats also have a strong back row.”
There’s no lack of speed for running rugby with both backlines in damaging form this year. Whether it is Sosene Anesi for Parra or Brad Dixon on the wing for the Rats, fans at Parramatta this week are set to see plenty of open rugby as both teams go all out for the win and the trophy.
Elsewhere in Round 8
West Harbour hosts Penrith, Manly welcomes Northern Suburbs, Southern Districts play Randwick down at Coogee Oval, Sydney University travels to Chatswood to take on Gordon and first-placed Eastwood takes on Eastern Suburbs at T.G Millner.
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.
Words by By Nathan Roye, Photos by http://www.seiserphotography.com/
Shute Shield Round 8 matches –
Parramatta v Warringah @ Merrylands RSL Rugby Park (3pm, ABC TV Game)
Parramatta: 1 Nick Blacklock, 2 Myles Hunkin, 3 Luke Troy, 4 Pena Dakuainiviti, 5 Adam Coleman, 6 Josh Kaifa, 7 Rodney Ma’a, 8 William Tuitupou, 9 Troy Lobendahn, 10 Sam Yakopo, 11 Damien Fakafanua, 12 Tukia Muli, 13 Dan Yakopo, 14 Moses Tavola, 15 Sosene Anesi (C).
Warringah: 1 Ben Ryan, 2 Rob Kelly, 3 Wayne Borsak, 4 Ben Adams, 5 Vincent Wright, 6 Sam Ward, 7 Mark Porpigilia, 8 Pierce Howell, 9 Joshua Holmes, 10 David Harvey, 11 Brad Dixon, 12 Edmond Doyle, 13 Michael Adams, 14 Conrad Gillingham, 15 David Feltscheer (C).
Referee: Damien Mitchelmore
West Harbour v Penrith @ Concord Oval (3pm)
West Harbour: 1 David Lolohea, 2 Reg De Jager, 3 Vaughan Lomax, 4 Tom Hikila, 5 Chris Simons, 6 Tom Games (C) 7 Cohen Masson, 8 Matt Coles 9 Max Beer, 10 Jack Debreczeni, 11 Tito Mua, 12 Henry Seavula, 13 Alofa Alofa, 14 Dylan Taikato-Simpson, 15 Shaun Treweek.
Penrith: 1 Peter Niumata, 2 Kerren Straker, 3 Nigel Vaifale, 4 Leo Burgess, 5 David Reopoama, 6 Vai Sosaite 7 Pita Tupou, 8 Willie Tooala, 9 Siaa Taveuvu (C), 10 Fokolulu Taumalolo, 11 Paula Katoa, 12 James Umu, 13 Wilson Silipa, 14 Keori Okati, 15 Campbell Hislop.
Referee: Jamie McGregor
Manly v Northern Suburbs @ Manly Oval (3pm)
Manly: 1 Andrew Collins, 2 Dave Porecki, 3 Tim Fairbrother (C), 4 Ryan Melrose, 5 Dylan Sigg, 6 Harry Bergelin, 7 Kotoni Ale, 8 Daniel Alley, 9 Adam Crerar, 10 Marshall Milroy, 11 Damien Reti, 12 Joe Christie, 13 Brian Sefanaia, 14 Richard Hooper, 15 Jacob Woodhouse.
Northern Suburbs: 1 Gody Schuster, 2 Will Weeks, 3 Nick Lah, 4 Ben Matwijow, 5 Michael O’Hea, 6 Hugh Sinclair, 7 Tim Fitzgerald, 8 AJ Gilbert (C), 9 Liam Walker, 10 Jack Grant, 11 Blake Murray, 12 Sam Myers, 13 Bill Meakes, 14 Peter Schuster, 15 Liam Windon.
Referee: Edward Martin
Randwick v Southern Districts @ Coogee Oval (3pm)
Randwick: 1 Faitotoa Asa, 2 Nio Halangahu, 3 Richard Aho, 4 Geoff Ingram, 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.
Southern Districts: 1 Michael Alaalatoa, 2 Duncan Chubb 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 Rayhan Laulala, 13 Denny Godinet, 14 Ollie Ngungutau, 15 Ben Volavola.
Referee: William Houstone
Gordon v Sydney University @ Chatswood Oval (3pm)
Gordon: 1 Tobias Gukibau (C), 2 Jim Handlin, 3 Willy Maumalanga, 4 Seb Murphy, 5 Mark Johnson, 6 Andrew Turner, 7 Gordon Broome, 8 Jono Broome, 9 Terry Preston, 10 Erik Moss, 11 Vesi Tokalaulevu, 12 Tom Mathews, 13 Mark Preston, 14 Matt Mcdougal, 15 Mitch Walton.
Sydney University: 1 Alasdair King, 2 James Willan, 3 Sam Talakai, 4 Byron Hodge, 5 Liam Winton, 6 Tom Boidin (C), 7 David Hickey, 8 Hugo Dessens, 9 Jake Gordon, 10 Stuart Dunbar, 11 Greg Jeloudev, 12 Tom Carter, 13 Michael Hodge, 14 James Dargaville, 15 Nathan Trist.
Referee: Graham Cooper
Eastwood v Eastern Suburbs @ T.G Millner Field (3pm)
Eastwood: 1 Jed Gillespie, 2 Hugh Roach, 3 Dylan Brass, 4 Jared Barry, 5 Mitch Lees, 6 Gareth Palamo, 7 Hugh Perrett (C), 8 Sione Tau, 9 Shanin Proctor, 10 Jimmy Hilgendorf, 11 Nick Batger, 12 Tom Hill, 13 Michael McDougall, 14 Nick Reilly, 15 Ben Batger
Eastern Suburbs: 1 Cooper Chapman, 2 Alex Walker, 3 Rob McMickan, 4 Keliti Vaingalo 5 Richard Stanford, 6 Pauli Taumoepeau (C), 7 Ryan Hodson, 8 Andrew Hodson, 9 Luke Irwin, 10 Henry Hudson, 11 Damon Anderson, 12 Angus Sinclair, 13 Apakuki Ma’afu, 14 Anton Lavin, 15 Will Fay.
