Total collapse in five minutes of madness & individual players standout: Mojo Homes Illawarra Cup round eight talking points
Two competition heavyweights played out a classic match for the ages, while five minutes of madness cost one team dearly. Check out the biggest talking points from round eight of the Mojo Homes Illawarra Cup.
Illawarra Star
Don't miss out on the headlines from Illawarra Star. Followed categories will be added to My News.
A week where scores alone didn’t do justice to the action that unfolded.
A number of players stood out from the crop of performers this week in the Illawarra Cup, with excellent tries, try assists and tireless work.
Meanwhile one team will be kicking themselves for letting a golden opportunity for points slip.
Check out six of the biggest talking points from round eight of the Mojo Homes Illawarra Cup.
1) A scoreline that doesn’t tell the story
The biggest talking point from the round was the almighty collapse of the Dapto Canaries at Captain Cook Oval.
The Canaries were eight points up with under 15 on the clock.
Within the space of five minutes then, they were ten points down, as De La Salle ran in three tries without Dapto making a single tackle in the process.
Having played admirably and scored some great tries, this no doubt hurt the Canaries.
Lapses of judgement have plagued the side all season, but this is by far the most heartbreaking for the side who have only picked up one win this season.
2) Faatili too hot to handle
Inspiring the De La Salle comeback victory was massive front rower Felix Faatili who was massive in the middle of the park all afternoon for the home side and sparked their late resurgence.
Faatili picked up the first of the five late tries for De La, charging on to a pass close to the line and couldn’t be held out by any yellow jerseys.
From the next kickoff then, Faatili smashed right back through the Dapto line, finding Thomas Rodwell in support who would then assist Tyla Tamou to get De La rolling.
3) Another Rodrigues showcase
No Mitch Porter, no problems for Wests Devils as Justin Rodrigues continued his stellar 2023 form in the halves against Corrimal.
Rodrigues showcased his skills in picking up a couple of assists for his side, first a kick out to the right for Lachlan Hurst to field and score the opener.
Later on he’d provide the golden touch yet again with a flat ball to centre Ethan Cliff to charge in and score.
4) Boyle reminds everyone of his class
Illawarra Cup veteran Jarrod Boyle reminded Collegians of his premiership-winning class as he Butchers faced off against his old side, despite not getting the result on the day.
Boyle picked up his first try in the blue and white of Thirroul, sending the defenders astray with a massive dummy and overpowering Toby Rumble to get the pill down on the line.
He would follow this up after with a beautiful sweeping pass that looked for all money like it could have been a Collegians intercept, but in the end it was inch perfect for Wayne Bremner to score for Thirroul.
5) Marsters & Martin strike again
Earlier in the week we highlighted the Marsters and Martin deadly connection on the right flank for Thirroul.
While there were no two points this week, there was another showing of how lethal that combo is.
Thirroul opened the scoring through Martin, after a nice sweep to the right where Marsters was able to sucker in two defenders before flicking out to Martin to finish acrobatically in the corner for his eighth try of the year.
6) McCann profits from positional switch
Sam McCann has been a standout performer from the left wing for Collegians this season, but this week profited from being moved to right centre.
Put it down to a coach Hooper masterstroke perhaps, but the decision paid off, as McCann opened the scoring early on as he charged through a hole on the right side to score.
McCann also used his big frame and pace for the good in the second half when he broke the Butchers line and sent his Collegians to the other end of the field, which would eventually lead to a Toby Rumble try to put the side in front.
Thriller match between competition heavyweights & big team collapse: Mojo Homes Illawarra Cup round eight wrap
Round eight of the Mojo Homes Illawarra Cup had thrilling rugby league action all over the region.
Thirroul and Collegians faced off in the match of the round which turned into an absolute classic.
Meanwhile, five minutes of madness completely cost one side, as they managed to conceded three tries without making a single tackle.
Check out how that happened and all the other action in the full round eight wrap.
Collegians hold off Thirroul in thriller
Collegians have prevailed in a 26-16 classic between two competition heavyweights at Thomas Gibson Park.
Two in-form sides as the Butchers came in to the game with three wins on the trot, while Collegians came in with two.
It was the visiting Collegians who caught the Butchers napping early on, with the competition’s leading try scorer Sam McCann running in all too easily early on to open the scoring.
This snapped the Butchers into gear though, as Joshua Martin would finish a beautiful sweeping move from left to right with a lovely flick assist from Steven Marsters.
Discipline would once again cost Collegians, with star fullback Callum Gromek sent to the sin bin for a professional foul.
With the numbers advantage, the Butchers would extend their lead, first through Jarrod Boyle’s big dummy and run to score, before setting one up for his fullback Wayne Bremner with a gem of a pass to the left flank.
Trailing at the break, Collegians came out firing, first through big Josh Dowel who profited off a nice change of direction in the play from halfback Zeik Foster.
Toby Rumble would then level things up, finishing skilfully in the corner after a clean right to left sweep from Collies.
With the game locked up in the final quarter, Harry Leddy went agonisingly close for the Butchers to scoring a try of the year contender, but was denied by some desperate Collegians defence.
The visitors would break to the other end of the part via a Sam McCann linebreak, before Toby Rumble grabbed his second of the match after hooker Jack Cross played him down the narrowest of channels on the left flank to score.
Callum Gromek would seal the victory in the final minutes with a try of his own, sinking the Butchers to their haunches and sending the points to Collegians.
Five minute collapse gifts De La Salle win over Dapto
Dapto have suffered one of their most crushing defeats to date, going down 38-20 to De La Salle in circumstances that sum up their season so far.
As has been the case in so many of their games in 2023, the Canaries got out of the block the strongest and led the match, first through Pita Godinet who regained his own initial grubber kick after fullback Troy Pieper toed it on again.
De La Salle would hit a quick one-two punch through Cruiz Devine and Tyler McIlroy, both profiting off of Eli Levido kicks.
Dapto would get right back in the contest though with their former NRL player halves combination combining, as Godinet chipped a kick up for Brad Takairangi to field and score.
This would be followed up by back-to-back tries down the left to Bradley Manton and Anthony Skinner, putting the Canaries up on the scoreboard by over a converted try going into the halftime break.
The second half however was complete disaster as the Canaries collapsed catastrophically.
Massive prop forward Felix Faatili would be the first to break through the Dapto defence after they held out for 25 minutes of the second half, steaming his way over from close range.
From the next kick-off, Faatili would take the first hit-up and charge right back through the line, finding Thomas Rodwell in support who would then offload brilliantly to Tyla Tamou to score a second De La try in as many minutes.
With the Dapto lead now gone the punishment still wasn’t over, as incredibly from the next kick-off Tre Fotu burst right back through the line again, finding Thomas Rodwell in support again who went in to score himself this time.
That meant three tries for De La Salle and zero tackles made from Dapto in that time, blowing the game completely out of reach.
Cruiz Devine would snag a second and Ethan Cocco would join in the act in the final minutes to blow the margin out even further in what was another day to forget for Dapto.
Wests keep winning ways going
Wests have remained undefeated and Corrimal have remained winless as the two sides played out a 38-8 score line at Sid Parrish Park.
It didn’t take long for the usual suspects to stamp proceedings on the match, with star halfback Justin Rodrigues sending a deft kick for Lachlan Hurst to claim and score the opener.
It was Corrimal who would surprise the league leaders with the next try however, as Max Martin burst through the line to score off an attacking scrum.
The Devils restored order shortly after with Rodrigues again at the heart of the attack, this time sending a flat pass to Ethan Cliff to score from centre.
With a six point margin all that separated the sides at the break, the Devils came out of the sheds strong with two early tries to Kyle Hardie and Brock Sepulveda extending the margin.
The Cougars were still showing signs of life though as Joe Duggan won his aerial contest brilliantly to score another try for the visitors.
The Devils would show their class towards the end of the game though, running away with the match thanks to a burrowing effort from Levi Pascoe, followed by a second to Lachlan Hurst and a final try to Hamish McLaurin who was filling in for the ill Mitch Porter in five-eighth.
Join the conversation
‘Don’t feel any pressure’: Illawarra twins continue famous family tradition
They’re the latest twins making a name for themselves in the Illawarra and with two Red V legends in their corner, the famous Young legacy is rolling into a third generation. FULL STORY
Read more
Johns/Daley Cup: Top-10 performers from round one
There were matchwinning halves and destructive backrowers. See who were the top-10 stars during round one of the Andrew Johns and Laurie Daley Cup.
Read more