Minor premiership decided in dramatic final round: Mojo Homes Illawarra Cup round 15 wrap
The regular season of the Illawarra Cup drew to a close over the weekend as three teams battled it out for the minor premiership in the final round. See who emerged on top ahead of finals in the full wrap of the round.
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The regular season of another incredible year of Illawarra Cup rugby league came to an end over the weekend with the final three games playing out.
The top four had already been decided coming into the weekend, but there was still plenty of possible rotation and a minor premiership up for grabs.
One game provided some late disciplinary drama, while there was some awesome team tries across the grounds for the highlight reel.
Catch up on all the action in the full round wrap.
Collegians down Wests in battle of heavyweights
Collegians rounded off the regular season with an important victory over Wests Devils to nail down second spot on the ladder, leaving the Devils in third.
It’s always a physical encounter between these two sides, both coming into the match having defeated the other once already this season.
It was the home side Collegians who were uncatchable throughout though, opening the scoring through centre Hayden Budd after a freakish offload assist from winger Jay Watling as he was being thrown over the sideline in a tackle.
Collegians would profit from the right flank shortly after again, with Callum Gromek showing off a different side of his game with the raw strength and power he showed as he barged his way through the attempted tackle of two Wests players to find the line.
The Devils would get there act together shortly after, inspired by the magic of Sosaia Feki in left centre, first assisting Jy Hitchcox by creating a short side play, before assisting Dylan Palmer-Quigg shortly after with a lovely flick pass.
Collies would go into the break on top though after Palmer-Quigg couldn’t diffuse a Max Devlin bomb, allowing Hayden Budd to regain the footy and score his second.
The home side would carry the momentum into the second half when Sam McCann decided it was his time of the game to get on the score sheet, showing too much strength one-on-one to be stopped and scored his 18th of the season.
Collegians were finding holes in a tiring Wests defence, adding another through Hayden Budd who sealed his hat-trick after a lovely pass from Callum Gromek to send him through the line.
Colby Pellow added a late one for Wests, but it would be too little to late to impose a comeback for the Devils.
There was a bit of late drama as well, with Wests’ Tom Simpson was sent to the sin bin following repeat infringements, before interchange forward Braith Lawrence-Foye was sent straight off for a poor high shot on Zeik Foster, leaving the visitors to finish the game with 11 men.
Butchers end regular season on a high
Thirroul will head into the finals series with a bit of confidence after a solid 32-8 win over Dapto who exit the competition in fifth place.
There would have been a lot more at stake in this game had it not been for the miracle Corrimal Cougars drought-ending win last week, but as it happened the final four had already been wrapped up coming into this match.
So for Thirroul it was a chance to get their act together before finals, which they seemed to do as they piled on the tries.
Fullback Wayne Bremner opened the scoring after capitalising on an Aaron Gray giveaway close to the Dapto line, followed up shortly after by lock forward Ammon Cairney charging his way on to a flat ball near the line to extend the lead.
Troy Pieper got the Canaries back into the contest soon after when he charged through a hole on the right flank.
The Butchers weren’t allowing a comeback though, as Joshua Martin ran in for his 11th of the year after some powerful running in the middle of the park by Steven Marsters.
Leading into the second half, the Butchers continued to punish the Canaries defence, first through a barging Sione Afemui run that sent one Dapto defender flying backwards through the air, before Riley Graham pinched another try for the Butchers from dummy half.
Troy Pieper ended his season on a high with his second try of the game and sixth of the season, but ultimately it would be the Butchers’ day as Cooper Bowen finished the job late on following a rare intercept and line break from prop forward Monty Raper.
De La Salle wrap up minor premiership
The Corrimal Cougars unfortunately weren’t able to carry the momentum of last week’s win into this week, going down in a 54-0 thumping to De La Salle.
This confirmed the minor premiership for De La Salle, a terrific achievement in just their second year of Illawarra Cup footy.
The shire side simply had too much quality for the Cougars to handle, with star half Eli Levido at the heart of nearly all 10 of the tries scored in a dominant display.
The opening try was an easy contender for one of the tries of the season, inspired by a Tyla Tamou grubber and regain down the left flank, before Chaz Jarvis finished off the move that had involvements from Levido and Talanoa Penitani.
The left flank was proving to be the most deadly for the home side, with both Tyla Tamou and Talanoa Penitani crossing for two tries each and strengthening the bond that they’ve grown throughout the season.
Levido was pulling the strings with his distribution game, setting up second rower Cruiz Devine to charge through the line and score.
The influential half also decided to get in on the scoring himself at one point, throwing a big dummy and bursting through a pocket of space.
The win was the 11th of the season for De La, putting them one point clear of Collegians and setting up a showdown with them next week in the semi finals.
Semi finals next week:
Western Suburbs Devils vs Thirroul Butchers – 3pm, Collegians Sports Stadium
De La Salle vs Collegians – 4:45pm, Collegians Sports Stadium
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