ST MARYS AND WENTY SCORE BIG WINS
The St Marys Saints sounded a warning to the Ron Massey Cup competition with a dominating 50-nil shut out of the Windsor Wolves in the ‘battle of the Blue Mountains’ at Windsor Sports Complex last Saturday Night.
In one of the most complete displays seen in the Massey Cup this season, the Saints ran in nine unanswered tries to move up to sixth place on the competition table.
Again class half Adrian Davis was close to the best player on the park as he had a hand in three of St Marys’ first four tries, plus landing seven goals from nine attempts with the boot.
After second rower Joe Vaegaau opened the scoring in the 10th minute following a 50 metre kick return from giant winger Luke Nadurutalo, a superb Davis pass sent flying centre Ray Lesoa away on a 50 metre dash for his first try in the 19th minute for a 12-nil lead.
Then Davis stood in a tackle in another attacking raid to send Vaegaau over for his second try in the 25th minute to give the visitors an 18-nil half time lead.
A Davis clearing kick at the end of the first set of the second half was then allowed to bounce in goal by Wolves winger Zac Mackay – giving his opposite number Chris Aunese-Scanlan the opportunity to pounce and duly score to extend the lead to 22-nil.
Then came the most commanding display of possession seen this season as the hapless Wolves could only muster one set of six tackles in possession for the first 25 minutes of the second half as the Saints ‘applied the screws’.
With such a welter of possession and field position, St Marys were ruthless. Nadurutalo finished off a movement in the corner before he turned provider with a miracle pass in a tackle send Alan Eisenhuth over to extend the lead to 32-nil.
Centre Tom Eisenhuth extended the lead in the 55th minute to 38-nil with Davis’ conversion, before Lesoa got his second try at the end of another sweeping movement wide out for 44-nil with Davis’ conversion with 20 minutes left.
The Wolves finally got their hands on some football to at least slow the scoring in the last quarter of the game.
St Marys put the exclamation mark on their win when Aunese-Scanlan posted his second try to finish another Davis inspired move with the last play of the night. Davis converted after the full time siren to bring up the Saints’ half century.
Competition leaders Wentworthville responded to St Marys’ statement with their own command performance as they shut out Concord-Burwood 46-nil at Goddard Park last Sunday.
Taking advantage of the undermanned Wolves outfit, the Magpies got the upper hand after a grinding start to lead 20-nil at half time in scoring the first four of their nine tries.
As Jake Butler-Fleming and David Sisifa completed their doubles in the second half, ‘Wenty’ went right on with the job in the closing stages to complete the second shut out performance of the Ron Massey Cup round.
Western Suburbs joined ‘Wenty’at the top of the table in Sunday’s other game when they just outlasted Hills District Bulls 32-26 in an entertaining contest.
Both teams went ‘try for try’ in the first half after a tight start. Jay Bonnell opened the scoring for Wests in the 11th minute from a Dayne Craig break before Hills centre Ben Vengoa was sin binned by referee Jeff Hartup for dissent.
The Bulls levelled the scores despite being one man short when Lionel O’Malley burrowed over from close range before Magpies winger Tom Capper took a Brendan Waters bomb to regain the lead just as Vengoa was returning from the sin bin.
The Bulls levelled the scores at 10-all just before the break when O’Malley scored his second try after a questionable knock on ruling against Wests in possession gave the home side attacking position.
Wests again regained the lead three minutes into the second half when a lovely David Harris pass in traffic sent Shannon Gallant away to score his first try which he converted.
Liam Walker replied for the Bulls to level the scores again with James Boustani’s conversion, before Wests regained the lead for a 4th time when Gallant scored his second try which he duly converted.
The Bulls came back to level scores again when Jake Ferguson scored wide out on the right for Boustani to convert and level the scores for a 4th time at 22-all with 20 minutes left.
However, Wests were not to be denied. A superb Brendan Waters cut out pass sent hit Kurt Atkinson on the chest to send him over with 15 minutes left, before Magpies centre Tala Mapesone crossed wide out to extend the visitors’ lead to 32-22 with Gallant’s conversion.
Stimon Mow gave the Bulls faithful some hope when he crossed in the corner with under five minutes left to set up the grandstand finish. Wests hung on to win as the Bulls could not take the chances they had created to pull the game out of the fire in the closing minutes.
The Blacktown Workers finally had a change of luck as they found out a tough 16-4 win at Laybutt Sports Fields, Blacktown last Saturday.
As both sides had boosts from players coming back from Intrust Super Premiership (ISP) due to byes from Penrith (Blacktown) and Newtown (Cabramatta) respectively, the match was played as a tight, tough arm wrestle all day.
Henry Raiwalui and Dwayne Brown got early tries for the Workers, while Kenny Niko got the Two Blues’ reply to bring the scores to 10-4 with under 15 minutes left.
The Workers’ hardy supporters had their hearts in their mouths when the home side were reduced to 12 men with a sin binning by referee Josh McGowan for a professional foul after a long Cabramatta burst.
However, this time the home side steadied and veteran backrower Jerry Key got the match winning try with under five minutes left with Kurt Horton’s conversion sealing the win at 16-4.
The win saw the Workers replace Cabramatta in the Top Eight.
The Auburn Warriors showed they were not a ‘one man band’ with a stunning 34-8 disposal of the Asquith Magpies at Lidcombe Oval last Saturday.
The Warriors overcame the loss of gun centre Addison Demetriou to the Canterbury ISP team “down the road” at Belmore with a convincing six tries to two win over the Magpies.
Wingers Abraham El Sakhem and Ben Dakuwaqa both got doubles as the Warriors moved into the Top 4 with their win – coming away in the closing stages to secure their biggest win for the season to date.
Dakuwaqa now has 12 tries for the season, while El Sakhem has nine majors for the year.
Finally, defending Premiers Mounties coasted to an easy 60-12 thumping of bottom placed Kingsgrove Colts at Aubrey Keech Reserve, Hinchinbrook last Saturday.
Racing out to a 36-nil lead at half time, “The Mulga” did what was required in the second half to complete their win.
Finlay Dibley completed his hat trick of tries in the closing minutes, while Mitch Beggs and Allen Malea-Malau scored doubles out of the 11 tries that Mounties posted.
Wentworthville and Wests still sit on top of the Massey Cup table with 18 points, followed by Mounties on 16 points, and Auburn who move into fourth spot on 15 points. The Colts still sit at the bottom of the ladder on four points.
Another full round is set down for this weekend, with four games on Saturday and two matches on Sunday.
The three main games of the round are all on Saturday. Auburn Warriors play Wests at Lidcombe Oval at 2pm, while arch rivals Wentworthville and Mounties light up a top of the table clash at Aubrey Keech Reserve at 3pm. Blacktown Workers continue the ‘western battles’ against St Marys at Laybutt Fields in Saturday’s other main match.
Triple H FM continue coverage of the Ron Massey Cup this weekend with their call of the Asquith Magpies’ clash with the Guildford Owls at Storey Park on Sunday, with kickoff at 3pm. The well known League Program “View From The Hill” is also back on Triple H FM on Saturday at Midday. “View From The Hill” and the live Sunday coverage can be heard on 100.1FM, via live streaming at www.triplehfm.com.au and on the ‘radiotunein’app.
