Manly, Southern Districts through to Shute Shield semi-finals

SYDNEY University v Southern Districts will kick off the Shute Shield semi-finals this weekend, with Manly to face Eastwood in the other playoff.

A REMATCH of last year's decider between Sydney University and Southern Districts will kick off the Shute Shield semi-finals this weekend, with Manly to face Eastwood in the other playoff.

Manly eliminated Easts from the competition on Sunday after scoring a 22-15 victory that thrusts them into combat with minor premiers Eastwood at TG Millner Field next Sunday. On Saturday, defending champions Uni host Souths, who breezed past Randwick to record a thumping 57-25 victory in the first preliminary final last Saturday. The results mean three of the four semi-finalists from last year have qualified again - just Eastwood have replaced Northern Suburbs from the equation in 2012. Uni, who defeated Souths 15-14 in last year's grand final after a late comeback, remain hot favourites to win another crown but will be wary after a scintillating attacking display from their rivals. Manly were far less convincing on Sunday afternoon at Coogee Oval. Two tries in three minutes late in the second half sealed victory for the Marlins in a largely forgettable match that featured poor handling from both sides. Leading 8-3 at the break, Manly trailed 10-8 with just 10 minutes to go before Melbourne Rebels backrower Jordy Reid crossed. A lineout move on halfway saw Manly five-eighth Marshall Milroy feed an inside ball to winger Richard Hooper, who beat three defenders before passing back to Milroy. The playmaker drew two defenders and gave an inside ball to the flying Reid who ran in under the posts. Moments later Manly skipper Ed Gower then bumped off a tackler and strolled 15 metres to the line. A late try to Easts hooker Alex Walker was mere consolation. In an error-riddled first half, both sides struggled to hold the ball with Easts coughing up 14 turnovers and Manly eight. It took 27 minutes before a point was scored, a Manly penalty courtesy of Milroy from in front. Halfback Brendan McKibbin levelled the scores by kicking a penalty of his own for Easts six minutes later. The try-line was finally breached three minutes before the break when Manly finished off 11 phases of attack on the Easts line. Hooker Pat Leafa ran onto a double-pump and pass from halfback Matt Lucas and crossed in the corner, and was lucky not to sustain serious injury when he struck his head on a barrier after planting the ball and rolling over. In similar circumstances, Easts scored their first try through winger Elijah Niko early in the second half. Following a long raid on Manly's line, the former NRL player went looking for the ball in midfield, ran on to a pass from McKibbin and half burst through before reaching out and touching down one-handed with his back to the ground. Matt Armour's conversion gave Easts the lead (10-8) for the first time in the match with less than 30 minutes to play, but they simply could not find a killer blow. Souths, on the other hand, had killer blows from all over the park against an outmatched Randwick. Bullocking performances from brothers Sitaleki and Lopeti Timani laid the platform for the win, while winger Alex Gibbon bagged a hat-trick and five-eighth Rohan Saifoloi a double in a personal haul of 22 points. Rob Horne, Andrew Leota, and Lopeti Timani also crossed for tries, while Wallabies winger Nick Cummins scored an acrobatic try in the corner after collecting a flick pass from Lopeti Timani and flipping over to score. Leota's try was the highlight, however, with an attacking move generating inside their own quarter and going through several sets of hands down the sideline before the ball was kicked back inside. Leota's chase looked forlorn until the ball took a rapid bounce left and the lock pounced ahead of the Randwick defence to score. SHUTE SHIELD SEMI-FINALS Saturday: Sydney University vs Southern Districts, University Oval, 3pm. Sunday: Eastwood vs Manly, TG Millner Field, 3pm.