Former NRL and Jersey Flegg players standout performers: Mojo Homes Illawarra Cup talking points round six
There were hat-trick heroes, a statement victory from a competition heavyweight and ex-NRL players doing the business across the grounds. Check out the talking points from round six of the Illawarra Cup.
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Round six of the Illawarra Cup meant all teams had faced off once and it was time for teams to do battle for the second time this season.
To the excitement of all neutrals, there were upsets brewing as one team managed to flip the scoreline from round one and turn a loss into a win.
While across the grounds, there were hat-trick heroes and excellent team tries happening all over the place.
Check out six of the biggest talking points from round six of Illawarra Cup action and keep reading for the full match wraps.
Thirroul lethal from close range
A statement victory for Thirroul came at the expense of De La Salle who were dealt their first loss of the 2023 season.
In doing so, some questions were raised of the goal line defence of De La, which was unable to keep out Thirroul from close range on a number of occasions.
Granted, this could simply come down to the fluency of the Butchers attack, which was truly devastating on Saturday at Thomas Gibson Park.
The Butchers scored two tries directly from dummy half dives, courtesy of Harry Leddy and Steven Marsters.
They would also profit off of their power forwards charging on to short balls close to line, showcased through hooker Bradley Deitz assisting both Kaleb Hocking and Ammon Carney with sharp flat balls near the line.
Work to do defensively for De La Salle perhaps after this week’s reality check.
Rodwell stars despite loss
The shining light for a tattered De La Salle side over the weekend was the Man of the Match performance from Thomas Rodwell on the wing.
Rodwell picked up all three of the visitors‘ tries in a busy performance, bringing his tally to six for the season.
This was also his second Man of the Match performance for De La after his round two shift against Wests.
Rodwell’s third was the pick of the bunch, outjumping two Thirroul defenders to pluck the ball from the air and complete his hat-trick.
Super Supulveda
Former Dragons Jersey Flegg winger Brock Sepulveda had some stellar moments as the Devils ran away to victory against Dapto.
Sepulveda, playing in centre, took a second half run that started just 5m out from his own line, breaking through the staggered Dapto defence before running 80m and offloading brilliantly to Lachlan Hurst in support.
Sepulveda also got on the scoresheet himself late on, regaining a Mitch Porter grubber that Jack Piccirilli was unable to clean up.
Round one repeat for Canaries
It was deja vu for the Canaries as they once again took an early lead to the Devils, but as they did in round one, totally collapsed in the second half and ended up losing by a sizeable margin.
The yellow and blue got out to a 10 point lead thanks to first half tries from Bradley Manton and Justin Faughlin, just like in round one where Faughlin and Jack Piccirilli got them out of the blocks early on.
From here though, Wests put on 36 unanswered points in another humbling day out for Dapto.
McCannot be stopped
Rapid winger Sam McCann picked up his third, fourth and fifth try of the season against Corrimal, drawing him level at the top of the Collegians try tally with fullback Callum Gromek.
The big-framed winger showed great strength and speed throughout the game, linking up nicely with Jeremy Leremia on his inside on multiple occasions.
Devlin at the heart of Collegians attack
Another standout performer for Collegians in an overall solid display was five-eighth Max Devlin.
Devlin was involved in the build up to McCann’s third try and also picked up the assist to Leremia’s second half try.
The elusive half also got one for himself, linking up with his halves partner Zeik Foster by chasing down his grubber and snagging a four pointer.
Check out the full match wraps of round six of the Mojo Homes Illawarra Cup.
The Butchers are back
The Thirroul Butchers have put the Illawarra Cup competition on notice after slicing and dicing the previously undefeated De La Salle 40-14.
The Butchers have had an underwhelming start to the season by their high standards, coming into the fixture with just two wins from their opening five games, including a loss to De La Salle in round one.
Whatever Jarrod Costello said to his boys pre-game worked wonders however, as the Butchers were three tries up before De La Salle had even woken up, thanks to a powerful running efforts from Cooper Bowen, a smart dummy half dive from Harry Leddy and an unmarked catch in the corner off a kick from Josh Martin.
De La finally got their act together through their productive right flank, with Thomas Rodwell finishing off a nice left to right spread on his side’s first real attacking venture of the match.
Thirroul would put on another before the break though through Steven Marsters who has been in some great form, again capitalising from a dummy half scurry.
Thomas Rodwell was doing his job for De La from the wing, grabbing his second of the match after nice grubber from Tyla Tamou in centre.
De La’s defence had no answers for the rampant Butchers attack though, as Kaleb Hocking and Ammon Cairney put on a quick one-two for the Butchers off some nice dummy-half work from Bradley Deitz.
To compound a tough afternoon for the visitors, De La Salle were reduced to 12 men when James Mirceski was sent to the sin bin for dissent.
The only positive to take from a tough day out was Thomas Rodwell who completed his hat-trick late on in the match, winning an aerial battle for the ball against two Thirroul defenders brilliantly.
Cooper Bowen got his second try to round off proceeding for the Butchers in a seven try statement performance.
Devils run away in second half
Wests have survived a first half scare from Dapto to emerge convincing winners in the end 34-10.
The Canaries got out of the blocks the better, opening the scoring first through Bradley Manton who pounced on an error from Wests’ fullback Dylan Palmer-Quigg.
This was followed up by a powerful run close to the line from prop forward Justin Faughlin to extend the Dapto lead.
It looked as though the Devils were struggling in the absence of star halfback Justin Rodrigues, but a try before the halftime break no doubt improved confidence going forward, as Mitch Porter spun his way out of a tackle and fell over the line to get Wests on the board.
Peter McLeod must have had some choice words at the break, as the Wests side that came out were much better in the second half, capitalising on some disappointing Dapto defence.
Kyan Hjaltason got on the board for Wests off the bench in the second half, running through a hole all too easily from dummy half to get Wests ahead for the first time.
The combinations would finally gel for Wests then as Lachlan Hurst finished off a delightful left to right move from the visitors.
Hurst would get his second on the board shortly after thanks to the terrific running game of Brock Sepulveda, busting through the Dapto line and charging 80m down the park, before offloading at the last moment to Hurst who was in support of his centre.
Sepulveda would get one himself at the end, as well as Ryan Barbuto, as the Devils piled on the second half points to ensure they remain undefeated for another week.
Collegians back in business
Collegians have dispatched of Corrimal for the second time this season, running in 34-4 winners at Collegians Sports Stadium and breaking their run of two losses on the trot.
Collegians winger Sam McCann was on fire, running in three tries down the profitable left side for Collegians.
Speaking earlier in the week, McCann said he was feeling good about his game at the moment and is happy with where Collegians are at this point in the year, despite a few slip ups.
“I think if we stick to our routines, stick to our systems, move forward like we have in the past few weekends, we should be good to get a similar result to round one,” McCann said.
McCann’s third was the pick of the bunch with Collegians travelling 70m in the one play and showing a willingness to back up and support their teammates.
Fullback Callum Gromek also continued his excellent start to the season, playing provider for McCann on one of his tries and finishing one off himself.
Five-eighth Max Devlin was having a good day out for Collegians as well, getting on the score sheet after chasing down a nice grubber kick into the in-goal from his halves partner Zeik Foster, before turning provider to feed his centre Jeremey Leremia to score one of his own.
Corrimal got one on the board in the second half through interchange hooker Zac Riley, but ultimately it was another tough day at the office for the visitors who remain without a win this season.
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