Rugby League Central Coast: Wrap, results, standouts from round 14

The Entrance has done something no other side has managed this year as it pulled off a huge scalp in the RLCC.

The Entrance pulled off a huge scalp in round 14. Picture: Julian Andrews

An outstanding defensive performance has seen The Entrance hand Erina its first defeat of the season as the Tigers held on for a hard-fought 12-6 victory at Erina Oval.

Time and time again the visitors forced errors out of the defending premiers in attacking positions as they overcame an early deficit to pick up a crucial two points and move into the top four.

“It was a huge defensive effort,” said The Entrance coach Jarod Hamer.

“Erina have been the benchmark, they’ve been in the grand finals the last three or four years and they deserve the respect – they’re a great football side. But we wanted to challenge ourselves and show the competition that we are still here and a part of it. And I thought we really took that on.

“We spoke about how our dee (defence) had to be on and how points would come if we stuck to our defensive structures, and it panned out that way.”

The Entrance put in an outstanding defensive display to knock over Erina. Picture: Julian Andrews

Rather than a dramatic shift in tactics or defensive structures, Hamer said the victory was built on a tweak in the team’s mentality and attitude.

“There’s 80 minutes of football, not everything’s going to go your way but we still need to get a voice and get energy around each other, whether it be for good or bad things – and we’ve really been emphasising that over the last couple of weeks and we really set a standard for this game,” he said.

“We looked like a really tight group out there and that’s how we’re building. Things can go our way if we stick together.”

Heading into the game with a remarkable six-point buffer at the top of the table, Erina got off to a dream start when a penalty with its second use of the footy helped the team up field and a shift left put winger Noah Owens over out wide after just six minutes.

The Eagles had the early momentum and enjoyed plenty of ball in dangerous territory. However The Entrance muscled up in defence and were able to turn its opponents around.

An intercept by Tigers centre Adam McInnes snuffed out another attack and helped the team up field before a penalty gave the visitors a fresh set.

Two plays later they went left and stripped Erina for numbers as winger Harrison Mulligan scored to level things up at 6-all midway through the first half.

And although the Eagles had the better of field position late in the half they struggled to break through and the sides went into the sheds even at halftime.

After weathering an Erina storm late in the first half the Tigers showed their ruthlessness shortly after the restart, with a penalty helping the team up field and some nice work from hooker Haydn Green putting Shaun Sinclair over under the sticks to give the side a 12-6 lead.

Shaun Sinclair scored what was ultimately the matchwinning try early in the second half. Picture: Julian Andrews

Despite the try, the match followed a similar trajectory to much of the first half, with Erina enjoying the better of possession and field position but struggling to execute and create clear-cut chances.

And while errors from The Entrance invited danger the team’s defence kept standing up as the pressure saw Erina force passes and make handling errors.

Winger Noah Owens went closest for the ladder leaders late in the contest but the Tigers held on for a crucial victory that sees them move up into third place in what is a congested battle for the top four.

Meanwhile despite the defeat, Erina remains well clear at the top of the table with a four-point buffer.

The Entrance 12 (Mulligan, Sinclair tries; Mulligan 2 goals) defeated Erina 6 (Owens try; Douch 1 goal)

In other round 14 results, Toukley put on a clinic with a 28-0 local derby win over Wyong, Kincumber maintained its spot in second by defeating Berkeley Vale 30-10 and Woy Woy kept its hopes of playing finals football alive with a 38-16 victory over Terrigal.