The Asquith Magpies continued their form resurgence in the Ron Massey Cup with a 34-28 win over the Western Suburbs Magpies in the ‘battle of the birds’ last Sunday at Storey Park.
Classy Wests hooker Dayne Craig eased over from dummy half to open the scoring in the sixth minute, before wide-running bacl-rower Jackson Williams extended the lead when he finished off great work started by an Andy Fiagatusa offload 12 minutes later.
When Craig got his second try from close range, Wests looked in control with a 14-nil lead after just 20 minutes. Indeed Wests could have led by further if a David Harris ‘try’ was not being called back for a line-ball forward pass.
Asquith replied with tries to prop Taylor McCann, five-eighth Brad Wall in a brilliant solo effort, and centre Jeco Makatoa who made the most of Wests fullback Shannon Gallant spilling a ‘bomb’ to lead 18-14 at half time.
Asquith then opened the game up with tries to winger Abbas Miski, centre Adam Kalcina from a long Miski break, and then winger Alex-Nicholls O’Neil after Gallant allowed another midfield bomb to bounce for a commanding 34-18 lead with 15 minutes left.
When Jerome Mose took a superb cut-out pass from Wests half Brendan Waters on the chest to score with 12 minutes left, it was game on again at 34-24.
However after another Wests ‘try’ to Luke Williams was denied by another line-ball forward-pass call, Asquith’s defence held on well enough to secure a second straight victory.
Wests centre Tom Morrison got his second try right on the full-time bell – but it was too little too late.
Concord-Burwood stormed into the Massey Cup top four with another remarkable second-half comeback – this time to stun Cabramatta 22-20 at Goddard Park last Sunday.
After the Two Blues did all the hard work for the first 75 minutes in holding the big Wolves pack and with back-rower Kenny Niko scoring a double, Cabra looked to be safe leading 20-10 with five minutes to play.
However, Joe Flint scored to bring the Wolves back to 20-16. Then with under two minute to pay former Newtown Jet and Wyong Roo Jack Siejka finished off a Wolves movement for hooker Aaron Booth to convert to give the Wolves the lead at 22-20.
Concord-Burwood then hung on in the face of one last Cabra attack to pull off a second come-from-behind miracle win in seven days.
Competition leaders Wentworthville edged out a gallant St Marys Saints 26-22 at Ringrose Park last Sunday in their much anticipated clash of the ‘park footy' powerhouses.
After Adrian Ha’angana opened the scoring in the 13th minute after a tight start, St Marys took it right up to the competition leaders.
The Saints replied with converted tries to hooker Jamie Hill and centre Ray Lesoa to give the visitors a 12-6 lead. This was cut back to 12-10 at half-time when Wenty interchange Jack Miller scored his first try seven minutes from the break.
The Magpies won the match with two tries in the first five minutes of the second half.
Miller bagged his second try two minutes in, before centre Jake Butler-Fleming posted his first try just two minutes later to give the Magpies a 20-12 lead.
Both sides had their chances, and giant Fijian winger Luke Nadurutalo got the Saints back in the contest with a converted try with 12 minutes left for 20-18.
Wenty steadied and Butler-Fleming scored the critical winning try – his second – with nine minutes left to give Wenty a match-winning 26-18 with Will Ropers’ conversion.
The Saints did score in the final minute through Brent Naden – but it was too late for the Saints.
Blacktown Workers returned to form with an emphatic 36-12 demolition of a disappointing Auburn Warriors in the wet at Lidcombe Oval last Saturday.
The match was still a contest with Blacktown only leading 14-12 at half-time. Addison Demetirou was again the Warriors’ standout player with a first half try, two conversion and a power of work in attack and defence to keep the home side in touch.
However, the Workers took advantage of poor Auburn handling errors and posted four unanswered second-half tries to win going away at the finish. Matt Place and Will Butler marked their return to form with two tries each.
Windsor Wolves moved back into the Massey Cup Top Eight with a scrappy 20-10 win over Guildford Owls at Windsor Complex last Saturday Night as the rain that fell at Lidcombe earlier in the day arrived at Windsor.
Windsor led 12-six at half-time, and on the back of two tries to centre Marli Sini and a couple of penalty goals to Aaron Farkas, did enough in a game that reached no great heights to hold out a disappointing Owls outfit.
Guildford’s second straight disappointing loss sees them drop to second last on the Massey Cup table.
Finally, Hills District Bulls did as they expected against Kingsgrove Colts at Crestwood Reserve last Sunday – easily winning by 60-10.
With James Wehbe starring at half and posting a hat-trick of tries, the Bulls ran in 11 majors to leave the Colts again outclassed by an opponent in the Ron Massey Cup. Gerard McCallum and Ben Vengoa also bagged two tries each in the Bulls’ win.
This weekend sees another full round of action with four matches on Saturday and two matches on Sunday - headlined by St Marys hosting Wests at St Marys on Saturday Night and Asquith playing Hills District Bulls at Storey Park on Sunday.
Triple H FM has another big weekend of coverage – starting on Saturday Night with the Sydney Shield “Peninsula Derby” between the Seagulls and Belrose from Forestville Oval at 7:30pm. Then it’s another “Super Sunday” at Storey Park between the Asquith Magpies and the Hills District Bulls - with the Sydney Shield clash kicking off at 1pm and Ron Massey Cup at 3pm. All the weekend action can be heard on 100.1FM, or via live streaming at www.triplehfm.com.au, or on the tunein app.
