With the first six rounds of competition in the books, the Ron Massey Cup will be picking up steam heading into round seven. With weather delays pushing some games around and round seven being a split round, this week’s games will push the tempo of the competition.
With only two unbeaten teams remaining, a pack of early front-runners are beginning to settle into the ladder. Rounding out the top four, the Wentworthville Magpies are undefeated with four wins and no losses. The Windsor Wolves and Asquith Magpies fill spots three and two respectively each with only one loss. Mounties are sitting pretty at the top of the ladder with five wins out of five matches, establishing themselves as the early favourites.
As teams begin to pull ahead, it is ever more crucial for mid-table teams to stay in touching distance. Two mid-table teams provide the competition with this round's feature match: the Cabramatta Two Blues versus the Guildford Owls (which has been pushed to May 3 as a result of recent weather). Both teams have squeaked their way into the top eight, with Cabramatta currently sitting seventh and Guildford eighth. Both teams go into the match with some momentum, as both sides are coming off wins from round six.
Last week proved to be the positive kick the Owls needed as they secured their first win of the season with a confidence-boosting 54-6 finish over the Kingsgrove Colts. Guildford coach Steve Ghosn puts the team’s slow start not to a lack of scoring opportunities, but to a lack of capitalising on those openings.
“We’ve had a lot of missed opportunities these last few weeks and against Kingsgrove, we turned some of our opportunities into points for a change, which is good,” said Ghosn.
This round's clash against the Cabramatta Two Blues will be no casual stroll and if the Owls hope to keep up their winning momentum, they will need to continue to convert their scoring opportunities as they did against Kingsgrove.
“There’s no easy game and there’s always a lot of talent in the Ron Massey Cup” Ghosn explains.
There is no doubt about that statement by Ghosn, with Concord-Burwood hosting Auburn and Wentworthville facing Western Suburbs in the postponed Round 6 clash in the other matches that round out this week in the Ron Massey Cup.
