Penrith District Rugby League: Emu Plains escape the blowouts, round 12 wrap
There were a couple of blowouts in the final three games of local footy on Sunday afternoon, but one side chipped away, continuing its low key revival. Don Feltis Cup, round 12 wrap.
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With their finals hopes hanging by a thread, a desperate Brothers hosted Colyton to kick-off round 12 of local A-grade footy on Saturday night.
Catch all the latest from Parker Street and a wrap from all three Sunday fixtures.
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EMU CARVE OUT TOUGH WIN
A strong defensive effort has helped Emu Plains overwhelm St Clair 18-6 in a willing contest at Peppertree Sporting Complex.
In a log-jammed ladder, victory propels Emu to fourth place - just one point behind St Marys in second. Meanwhile, after successive defeats, the Comets have slipped to fifth, albeit, only one point behind Emu.
Returning winger Nicholas Hancock saw Emu off to flyer. On the end of smart work by fullback Jake Bentley and Kailub Smith, Hancock finished off a long range play inside the opening two minutes.
Looking sharp with the ball, the visitors ramped up their ascendancy and jumped ahead 10-0 in the 15th minute when Isaac Thompson caught the Comets off guard from close range.
It was a play replicated by the Comets several minutes later. With nothing on offer, hooker Bryson Demanuele scooted across from dummy half for what turned out to be St Clair’s only joy of the afternoon.
After an initial flurry of tries, the points dried up over the next 40 minutes of game time as Emu held onto a slender four-point advantage. Happy enough playing the percentages, Tom Romer delivered the circuit breaker with 20 minutes to play.
On the back of his captain’s spirited charge, Thompson called Richard Starr on an inside line and the backrower did the rest, strolling through to score under the posts.
It remained that way until Jarrod Brackenhofer’s penalty goal in the final minutes.
WOLVES SCOOT AHEAD
While they were far from their battled hardened best, Windsor has done enough to down Minchinbury 40-32 and skip three points clear at the top of the table.
Following an intense clash with Emu Plains, the Wolves were caught off guard by Minchinbury. After an even first half, an upset loomed as the Jets skipped ahead 20-16 when fullback Jasais Ah Kee sent Jamie Davison over just before the break.
One of the home side’s best, Ah Kee finished with two tries but it wasn’t enough to halt a Wolves second half resurgence.
Aidan Ryan levelled the scores with his second in the 49th minute. And the backrower was quickly followed across by Eton Lindsay, Luke McDonald and Jeshua Maa-Nelson as the score quickly blew out to 40-20 in the 60th minute.
Two late consolation tries narrowed the margin to eight, well within the 45.5 points start for Minchinbury to retain the Don Feltis Challenge Cup for another week.
CAMBO GET IT DONE
Cambridge Park charged past Riverstone 36-22, but it wasn’t without a hiccup at Basil Andrews Playing Fields.
Spurred on by an early try to fullback Elijah Tua, the Razorbacks backed it up with strong defence and put themselves on track for a breakthrough victory when they hit the sheds trailing 10-4.
Cambo centre John Vunga barged over shortly after the resumption, and with third spot up for grabs, the visitors piled on another three quick tries including a double to the reliable Jacob Swann-Knight.
Undeterred by previous blowouts, Riverstone regrouped and with 20 minutes to play had narrowed the gap to 26-16 following four-pointers to Isaac Guba and prop Ben Roberts.
With two first half tries against his name, Rhys Falconer saw his side to safety. Combining with Vunga, the lock helped Sean Pokia cross to put the result beyond doubt.
LATE SURGE SPARKS FINALS RACE
Brothers’ mid-season revival is in full swing after the home side overcame a scrappy first half before kicking late to overrun a disappointing Colyton, scoring five unanswered second half tries in a must-win 36-6 victory.
Buoyed by last week’s late escape to draw with St Marys, it was simply do-or-die for Damian Lane’s side who arrived at Parker Street still five points adrift of the Colts in seventh place.
Coming off an impressive win over St Clair, Colyton would have fancied their chances of locking down a finals spot, but after levelling at 6-all they were made to pay for a procession of second half turnovers as Brothers took full advantage.
On the back of consistent yardage from dominant front-rowers Jaxon Savage and Ray Mikaele, Brothers eventually got on the board when Jarrod Considine put centre Zane Lang across in the 33rd minute.
In a quickfire response, the visitors found touch from the restart, and from the ensuing scrum struck through Kaylem Falaniko when the lock broke away with a solo effort under the posts.
A Colyton handling error several minutes after the break was all Siaosi Huihui needed to score the go ahead try. Swooping on a fumbled kick, the elusive winger put his team 12-6 clear that spearheaded an avalanche of points.
Arguably the best on the park, Issac Petrus proved untouchable on the left edge. All pace and strength, he broke the line at will, paving the way for a Liam Perram four-pointer before finding the stripe for a well deserved double in the final 20 minutes.
“We knew we had to do the hard work early through the middle,” said Lane following his side’s third win.
“It’s pretty good for us, because I feel like we can definitely match the top sides and make the top-six. The win leaves us three-points outside the six, but we go into a bye next week, and there’s every chance we’ll come out the other side having narrowed the gap by two more.”
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While delighted to score four tries on the left edge, the Brothers coach was quick to praise the effort on the other side of the field.
“Our left side is really strong,” he said. “In saying that, I thought centre Tony Aholima defended really well on the right to keep us in the game.
“I’m really proud of everyone for the keeping them to six. But moving Tony to centre and Issac into the back row worked well for us. Issac gives us the same work ethic every week, and we’d miss him a heap if he wasn’t there.”
TURNING POINT
In one of the more bizarre plays of the season, Nathan Jones swayed the result after the halfback caught everyone on the hop with his try against the run of play.
Down 12-6 after 55 minutes, Colyton were on the attack until Jones – a late call up to the game-day squad – came away with the ball, and with the all clear by the referee, raced away to make it 18-6.
With three players in the tackle, the Colyton players were caught off guard and pleaded for a penalty, believing the ball had been unfairly stripped.
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