Defensive masterclass, team try of the year and standout performers: Group 7 rugby league round 12 talking points
Group 7 round 12 was headlined by some highlight reel tries in a major top of the table clash, while there were upsets shaking up the ladder around the grounds. Check out the biggest talking points from the weekend.
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There was plenty of action to unpack from round 12 of Group 7 rugby league.
The table is beginning to shape up and become clear for the first time this season between the top and the bottom.
There was spectacular tries, defensive masterclasses and standout performances all down the south coast.
Check out seven of the biggest talking points and read on for the full round wrap.
1) Defensive masterclass from the Sharks
For the third week in a row the Shellharbour Sharks kept their opposition scoreless.
This is turning into a seriously impressive statistic, as no other team has achieved this fete for two weeks in a row, let alone three.
The last time the Sharks conceded a try was roughly 245 minutes of footy ago to Jake Kamire of the Stingrays of Shellharbour.
Since then the Gorillas, Knights and most recently the Magpies have all failed to break down their defensive walls.
They face the Jamberoo Superoos next week who will be a tough outfit to keep out, but you wouldn’t put it against them the way they’re travelling.
2) Team try of the year?
While they didn’t come up with the points against the Lions, the Stingrays produced a moment to cherish with perhaps the best team try we’ve seen this season.
Running the ball on the last play, the pill got passed between eight different sets of hands and moved over half the field’s length, ending with a slick inside pass from Tom Warner to prop forward Liam Scot to finish the move.
A beautiful move that had the Stingrays justifiably celebrating like they had just won a grand final, despite still trailing in the game.
3) Lions pounce from range
The Gerringong Lions were proving deadly from all over the park against the Stingrays of Shellharbour, picking up two tries from 80m+ range.
The first was one of the tries of the season from Wesley Pring who was filling in at fullback, weaving his way through the Stingrays defence and showing blistering speed.
This would be followed up by Caleb Hall producing an 80m effort of his own, cleaning up a Stingrays kick and hightailing it into open field to produce another long range beauty.
4) Knights bounce back
The Kiama Knights strung together some of their best footy of the season in the first half against the in-form Milton Ulladulla Bulldogs.
The Knights scored all five of their tries in the first half, impressively stringing four back-to-back despite the loss of their five-eighth Braith Crane to injury.
The pick of the bunch was a second try to winger Matt Morris, catching out some sleepy Bulldogs defence by putting in a grubber into the in-goal for himself to chase down and score.
The second half left plenty to be desired for the Knights still, but regardless it was an improved overall performance from a side that has underperformed in 2023.
5) Table separation at last
The Group 7 table has been congested all season due to the abundance of upset results taking place all over the south coast.
Finally though, there’s a bit of disparity between the top five and the bottom five, as a big Jamberoo Superoos win over the Nowra-Bomaderry Jets sent them three points clear of the Milton Ulladulla Bulldogs in sixth.
This isn’t to suggest this top five is locked in, as the Bulldogs and the Knights in sixth and seventh are definitely capable of producing the results to propel themselves up the ladder in the second half of the season.
6) Ball on the ball
There was no James Walsh in the halves for the Eagles this week, but that didn’t matter as Kane Ball was steering the ship beautifully for the home side as they cruised to victory over the Warilla-Lake South Gorillas.
The halfback picked up assists to three of his side’s five tries, showing great passing decision and accuracy.
Twice Ball produced perfectly weighted flat balls for Jarryd King and Cooper Tunbridge to charge on to and score, while he also showed his long-range ability with a massive spread for a Dallas Harrison try.
7) Grant a diamond in the rough
Another week and another rotation of the halves combinations for the Warilla-Lake South Gorillas, with Jake Brisbane partnering Blair Grant against the Eagles.
Despite the loss, Blair Grant showed some touches of class that he can leave the round proud of.
Grant assisted his second rower Craig Nolan for the first try with a perfectly weighted flat ball to send him through the line.
Grant followed this up with a terrific stepping effort of his own to really create something out of nothing and weave his way through the Eagles defence and score.
Big upset results and try of the season contenders: Group 7 rugby league round 12 wrap
Round 12 of Group 7 rugby league continued the 2023 trend of every week throwing up some unpredictable results.
There was a major top of the table clash that provided some candidates for try of the season.
While across the grounds, upsets results continued to shake up the middle of the Group 7 ladder.
Catch up on the full wrap of round 12.
Six in a row for Sharks
The Shellharbour Sharks have kept the ball rolling as the most in-form team in the competition by notching their sixth-straight win by defeating the Berry Shoalhaven Heads Magpies 26-0.
It’s the third week in a row that the Sharks have kept their opponents scoreless, imposing themselves as the best defensive team in the competition.
It was a pretty routine day out for the Sharks as the Magpies slumped to their ninth loss of the year.
Brody Rigg was having an influential performance from dummy-half, opening the scoring by evading about four attempted tackles on his quest to the line and ending up under the sticks.
Eze Harper would follow this up by finishing a nice right to left spread from the Sharks in the corner to give the home side a two try lead at the break.
The Sharks found a winning formula down their left, with Jacob Seabrook the next to punch a hole in the Magpies line and score, followed up by Brody Rigg charging down the short side from dummy half and picking up his second.
James Ralphs would finish the afternoon’s scoring by adding another to his growing tally, backing up Jayme McElhone on the inside after the interchange centre made a break down the right flank.
Lions prevail in clash of titans
In the match of the round between two competition heavyweights, the Gerringong Lions prevailed 28-22 over the Stingrays of Shellharbour to remain on top of the Group 7 ladder.
Four unanswered tries in the first half put the game out of reach for the Stingrays, who will be frustrated with the manner they conceded a couple of them.
Liam Holland was on hand to open the scoring in the left corner after some instrumental work in the build-up from halfback Rixon Russell.
Wesley Pring, typically a winger donning the fullback jersey this week, then notched a contender for one of the tries of the season, weaving his way through the staggered Stingrays defence and running 80m to score a peach.
The Stingrays were then kicking themselves as winger Caleb Hall once again turned defence into attack and also ran 80m to score after he cleaned up an attacking kick from Stingrays centre Viliami Latu.
Hamish Holland would join his brother on the scoresheet shortly after, bursting through a hole and stepping the last defender to put the Lions 20 points up.
It took 35 minutes for the Stingrays to put points on the board, which they did back to back through Colby Smith and Ben Weatherall.
The Lions weren’t to be chased down though, with Jack Quine finishing off a lovely team move from the league leaders to extend the advantage.
Jake Kamire was unleashed off the bench to smash his way over the line for the Stingrays late on, no doubt one of the biggest frames in the competition and tough to stop from close range.
The Stingrays would then put together another try of the season contender themselves, this time a massive team effort where the ball went from left to right and back to the left again, with Tom Warner playing the final incisive ball back inside for Liam Scot to finish off.
Despite being obviously fired up from this effort, the Stingrays weren’t able to penetrate the Lions defence again, with the league leaders holding on for the points.
Knights hang on for much needed win
The Kiama Knights have snapped a three-game losing streak to hold on 28-26 winners over the Milton Ulladulla Bulldogs.
It’s a big win in what has been a highly disappointing year for the Kiama Knights, who were champions of the league a mere four years ago.
It seemed to be the Knights day from the get-go, with the Bulldogs spilling the first kick off of the afternoon, before Matt Morris scored from the next play to send the Knights into the lead.
One of the season’s best in Cody Roach responded shortly after, working his magic to show and go through a pocket of space close to the line and level the scoring.
Knights five-eighth Braith Crane picked up a head knock while attempting to defend this try, pausing the game for a number of minutes while he was treated and eventually assisted off the field.
Despite losing a key playmaker, the Knights managed to build more momentum and score the next four tries unanswered, thanks to efforts from Callan Thistlethwaite, Ethan Ford, Kieran Poole and a second to Matt Morris.
From here though it was all the Bulldogs, with another top performer of the season in Bailey Sassall the first to pick the lock with a big dummy and surge for the line to score.
Liam Conlon would then pick up two tries back to back on the left wing, before Roach set up Dwayne Longbottom on the other flank to reduce the margin to two.
The drama was saved until to final seconds, as the Bulldogs two points down and picking up a penalty from out wide near the line and Cody Roach opting to shoot for goal to attempt to tie the game.
Roach’s attempt would strike the upright and bounce back into play, allowing the Knights to regather and seal the victory.
Superoos upset Jets
The Jamberoo Superoos have produced a massive win as they continue to put the pressure on the top four, defeating the previously third placed Nowra-Bomaderry Jets 24-14.
Incredibly this is a third straight loss for the Jets who it felt like were frontrunners to win the whole competition only a matter of weeks ago.
The Superoos came out of the blocks firing with early tries to hooker Daniel Burke and winger Jordan Xuereb, the latter of which featured some nice build-up work from Nathan Gallastegui and Jake Clarke.
The Jets bounced back through Kurt Quinlan, but were unable to break the Superoos momentum as lock forward Jayden Morgan grabbed his sixth try for the season when he spun over close to the line.
Brayden Omoeboh finished a nice left to right spread on the last tackle for the Jets, but a similar move on the other side of the field resulted in Cody McParland finishing in to the corner to keep the Superoos advantage.
Lock forward Zachary Kershaw snagged a late on for the Jets but it wasn’t to be enough to get the better of the high-flying Superoos who made it five wins in a row.
The Jets slip to fourth while the Superoos close the gap and continue to build momentum.
Eagles damage depleted Gorillas
The Albion Park-Oak Flats Eagles have inflicted more damage on the wounded Warilla-Lake South Gorillas, defeating the defending premiers 30-10 and moving within one point of them on the ladder.
It’s just the third win of the season for the Eagles, who have continued to look better as the year has gone on.
It was clear to see what they have been working on at training as well, with four of their five tries being great runs through the line off of short balls from the side’s playmakers.
Lock forward Jack Walsh picked up two of these tries, one either side of halftime, showing great run choices and speed.
Jarryd King and Cooper Tunbridge also profited off short ball hits through the line to score, while Dallas Harrison picked up one for the Eagles as well off a long pass from halfback Kane Ball who had a largely influential afternoon.
Craig Nolan and Blair Grant were the sole scorers for the Gorillas who weren’t able to carry the momentum of last week’s victory into round 12 and slumped to an eight loss of a tragic title defence season.
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