Round 12 was the first bye weekend of the Intrust Super Premiership NSW for 2017 and it was imperative for the six teams playing to collect a valuable two points as they make their way into the second half of the season.
The Newtown Jets and Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs played out a 26-all draw to kick off Round 12 at Henson Park, with the Bulldogs sharing competition points for the second week in a row thanks to a last-gasp try from Saulala Houma in the final five minutes that gave Newtown the lucky escape.
Zac Woolford worked tirelessly in defence for the Bulldogs, recording a round-high 42 tackles while fellow team-mate Bronson Garlick provided significant impact in defence as well with 41 tackles of his own. Bulldogs lock Rod Griffin also put in a starring performance with a brilliant try to go with 105 metres and 36 tackles.
Both sides will be relatively happy with their discipline after both maintaining a 76 per cent completion rate and sharing 50 per cent of possession throughout the contest, and also created a vast array of opportunities with each team recording eight and seven line breaks respectively.
The Bulldogs will be looking to build more pressure in their next fixture against the Panthers, forcing just one drop-out and thus, completing just 23 sets in comparison to Newtown’s 29
The Wyong Roos got back to their winning ways with a gutsy 22-20 away victory over Mounties on Saturday afternoon, continuing their eight-game undefeated streak after a 30-all draw to the Bulldogs last weekend.
Both teams shared equal possession with the scoreboard reflecting the hard-fought nature of the contest, but the Roos will be looking to improve their discipline with the ball-in-hand after completing at just 64 per cent.
Mounties were dominant through the middle third recording 1,525 running metres in comparison to the Roos’ 1,389, with their back five contingent running for at least 120 metres each.
Roos winger Johnny Tuivasa-Sheck put in a big performance with 163 running metres from 17 runs, while also recording three tackle-breaks and scoring their first try of the afternoon.
Mounties centre Brent Naden put in a brilliant individual performance in a losing side, scoring two impressive tries while also running for 143 metres to go with two line breaks and four tackle-breaks.
The Warriors made it back-to-back victories to stay in touch with first place with a strong 18-10 victory over the North Sydney Bears, with the Bears falling outside of the top four after three consecutive defeats.
Coming off a 49 per cent completion rate against the Blacktown Workers Sea Eagles in Round 11, the Bears improved significantly with 72 per cent this week while also maintaining majority of possession with 55 per cent. After only recording two tries, they will be wanting to improve their attacking structures in the coming weeks considering they have the scored the second-least amount of points in the competition so far.
The Warriors will be full of confidence following another gutsy victory which will see them remain within one competition point for ladder leaders Wyong Roos, but will want to improve their work through the middle with just one player recording over 100 running metres.
They can take confidence in their ball handling, having completed at 78 per cent, but will be looking for a more disciplined performance against the Knights after conceding 11 penalties throughout the contest.
Isaiah Papalii was a shining light for the Warriors, making 26 tackles and running for 126 metres, while Intrust Super Premiership NSW Residents lock Cheyne Whitelaw was working hard as always for the Bears, recording a game-high 40 tackles in a valiant performance.
View the full stats reports from each of the games below and stay tuned for the Round 12 Team of the Week, to be released on NSWRL.com.au later today.
