The Kingsgrove Colts caused one of the biggest boilovers in Ron Massey Cup history when they upset the Windsor Wolves 18-14 at Windsor Sports Complex last Saturday Night.
It was the Colts’ first win in Ron Massey Cup in nearly two years – their last win was in Round 22, 2014 when they defeated Blacktown Workers 40-22 at Laybutt Fields.
Since then, the Colts endured 27 straight losses in Ron Massey Cup play – their only competition points coming from byes – before last Saturday night’s breakthrough win.
It was also just the sixth Ron Massey Cup win in the last four seasons for the battling Colts, who have had two winless seasons (2013 and 2015) in that period.
The Colts came out and meant business from the kick off against a reshuffled Wolves lineup after the Wolves moved players around into their Sydney Shield team earlier in the evening.
Early tries to winger Justin Gasovski and James Chongsun set the Wolves back on their heels before the home side replied with uncoverted tries to Ryan Tramonte and Keiran Croft.
Both teams exchanged tries in the second half. Wolves backrower Peter Betros scored for Aaron Farkas to convert before Colts hooker Hayden Warren capped a standout match with a try converted by multi-talented sportsman Daniel Arahu to give the Colts their 18-14 lead.
Arahu is also a class cricketer having being in and out of the St George First Grade side in recent summers as a top-order batsman – his three conversions from three attempts being crucial.
The Colts then held on in the closing stages in the face of desperate late Wolves pressure to secure a famous victory.
Western Suburbs joined a four-way tie at the top of the Massey Cup with a thrilling come-from-behind 22-20 win over Wentworthville in the all Magpies ‘battle of the birds’ at Campbelltown last Saturday.
In a match of contrasting halves, both sides took their attacking opportunities in the first half.
‘Wenty’ opened the scoring when hooker Jordan Galloway forced his way over from close range for a 6-nil lead.
That lead was extended with tries to Timoci Vatubuli and Adrian Ha’angana for a 16-nil Wentworthville lead after just 16 minutes.
Wests then fought back with Shannon Gallant’s fifth try of the season and a Jay Bonnell scoring off a Dayne Craig grubber kick to bring the scores back to 16-12 with Gallant converting both tries.
David Sisifa then posted ‘Wenty’s fourth try from a Wests error at the restart for 22-12 with Dylan Izzard’s conversion
Wests again replied in the shadows of half time when Tala Mapesone scored from a Brendan Waters face ball to leave Wentworthville leading 22-18 at the break.
The second half saw some of the best defence for the season to date in the Massey Cup.
Both sides repelled great attack, before Brendan Waters scored the crucial try in the 67th minute in his first match against his old club to give Wests the lead for the first time at 22-20 after Gallant missed the conversion.
Wests held on in the dying minutes – including defusing a high ‘Wenty’ bomb in their own in-goal right on full time – to clinch their win.
Another standout performance from former Manly Holden Cup star Addison Demetriou propelled the Auburn Warriors to a 36-28 win over Cabramatta at Lidcombe Oval last Saturday.
In another entertaining contest, Demetriou scored two tries at centre – his second try coming at a critical stage in the second half – and had a perfect six goals from six attempts with the boot.
Demetriou’s personal tally of 20 points plus two tries to in-form winger Abraham El Zakhem was enough to give the Warriors a six tries to five win and move them to fifth place on the Massey Cup table. Centre Corrin Smith bagged two tries for the beaten Two Blues outfit.
Finally, Mounties joined the four way tie at the top of the Massey Cup with a hard fought 20-16 win over the Guildford Owls at McCredie Park last Sunday.
Alofe Mataele’s 12th try of the season gave the defending Premiers a 6-4 lead at half time in what was a tight arm wrestle for the first 40 minutes. Centre Josh Cameroux got the Owls’ first half try.
The lead changed hands a number of times in the second half as the Owls put in their best Massey Cup display in recent weeks.
Tries to John Martin and Jarrod Brackenhofer for Mounties cancelled out come back tries by Jarrod Farlow and Tyrone Shelly for Guildford as the match shaped up for a thrilling finish.
However, Mataele’s second try for the day – and 13th for the year – kicked ‘The Mulga’ away in the last 20 minutes to allow Mounties to score their win.
Wentworthville, Wests, Mounties and Concord-Burwood all share the Massey Cup lead on 14 points after the completion of the split round, with Wentworthville still leading on percentages.
Despite their great win, Colts are still at the bottom of the Ron Massey Cup table on four points.
This weekend sees a return to a full round of matches – with one game on Saturday and five games on Sunday to complete the round.
The pick of the round on Sunday sees Wentworthville take on Hills District Bulls at Ringrose Park and St Marys hosting the Concord-Burwood Wolves at St Marys Leagues Stadium.
Triple H FM goes back to Storey Park this Sunday for the match ups between the Asquith Magpies and the Windsor Wolves – with the Sydney Shield kickig off at 1:00pm and the Ron Massey Cup kicking off at 3:00pm. All the Sunday action can be heard on 100.1FM, or via live streaming at www.triplehfm.com.au, or on the tunein app.
