Big upsets and massive scorelines: Round 10 full wrap, results and talking points from Group 7 Rugby League
An upset second half comeback was the big shock of round ten of Group 7 rugby league. Hear from the victorious coach and check out the other big talking points from the weekend.
The South Coast News
Don't miss out on the headlines from The South Coast News. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Round ten of Group 7 rugby league is in the books, with surprise results and solo heroics giving us plenty to talk about.
The ladder continues to change by the week, as unpredictable results shake up positions.
Check out seven of the biggest talking points from round ten of Group 7 Rugby League.
Group 7 mid-season report card.
1) Eyes up the ladder for Bulldogs
The headline result of the round was the Milton Ulladulla Bulldogs producing a terrific second half comeback to get the better of the league leaders the Nowra-Bomaderry Jets.
Coach Andy Lynch was over the moon with how well is side performed in the second half to keep the Jets scoreless.
“We weren’t happy at half time because we felt we deserved more from the game,” Lynch said.
“We were good defensively even though we leaked points, controlling the rucks well, getting in good positions, but we just weren’t clinical.
“At half time I asked the boys what their role was within the team, to be accountable for what they do and do your role correctly.
“To go out then and perform how they did in the second half was outstanding.”
The Bulldogs put on 27 unanswered points in the second half, with Lynch identifying Cody Roach, Bailey Sassall, Blake Halls and Riley Wooden as some of the standout performers.
The massive win is timely for the Bulldogs who go up against the Stingrays of Shellharbour next week in another big test for the side.
2) Consistent Cornell
While his Kiama Knights couldn’t quite get the job done against the in-form Jamberoo Superoos, Cameron Cornell was once again ripping and tearing from centre.
Between himself and Matt Morris, the left edge of the Knights is becoming more dangerous by the week.
Twice Cornell assisted his winger, showing skill in both passing and kicking, before scoring a try of his own in the second half with a mean left foot step that completely sold the Jamberoo defenders, allowing the big man to split the pack and run in the score.
3) Jamberoo duo do the business again
It was the usual suspects who stood up for the Jamberoo Superoos to lead them to a third straight win.
Coreg Grigg made it three games in a row on the score sheet from second row, making what is becoming a trademark burst through the line off a short ball from Mark Asquith and charging through the Kiama line.
Asquith would then inevitably find his way to the line as he does most weeks, supporting his winger Jordan Xuereb after he made a break down the left wing and making it eight tries for the season.
4) Highlight reel from Gerringong wingers
Gerringong returned to form against Berry thanks in part to a highlight-reel performance from their two wingers.
Liam Holland picked up a pair of tries from the left flank, the first of which was pretty routine grubber retrieval after Toby Gumley-Quine’s kick wrong-footed the Berry fullback.
Holland’s second try though was a pearler, charging on to an attacking kick from Berry on his own 10m line and busting right back through the defensive line, running the length of the field to score a beauty.
It’s worth noting from this try as well that Holland had about five Gerringong jumpers right up there in support of him as he charged the field for his side’s eighth try, which will no doubt please Scott Stewart that his side was putting in the effort for the full 80 minutes, something that has let them down in recent weeks.
On the opposite side of the field, Wesley Pring was channelling his inner Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow as he absolutely blitzed the Berry edge defence and blitzed his way through to score a great solo try.
5) Improved Eagles despite loss
The Albion Park-Oak Flats Eagles were unable to keep their winning ways going against the Stingrays of Shellharbour, however Danial Gorrel’s side showed that they are still getting better by the week.
The game was very much still in the balance, with the end scoreline not a massive reflection of how close the game was, as there was just four points the difference coming into the final eight minutes.
Kane Skarratts emerged as a new try scorer for the Eagles, finding himself as the perfect support runner on two occasions to pick up a first half double.
Cooper Tunbridge also finished off a nice Eagles move with a perfect assist from fullback Jesse Prinsse.
No points this week from the Eagles, but no reason to lose confidence either.
6) Weatherall double trouble
In a crucial victory for the Stingrays of Shellharbour, it was the Weatherall duo that stood up for the home side.
Ben Weatherall picked up a first half double, interestingly playing on the outside of regular winger Jarvis Austin in a move that evidently worked well.
Zaan Weatherall then joined Ben on the scoresheet in the second half, fielding a cross field kick and showing great strength to get the better of his marker to get an important try.
7) Clash of titans next week
Next week’s marquee matchup is a mouth watering clash between first and third place as the Gerringong Lions host the Nowra-Bomaderry Jets.
There’s an added element of intrigue after the Jets’ round ten loss, which might edge the lower-placed Lions as favourites, especially off the back of their demolition of the Berry Shoalhaven Magpies.
The Lions emerged six point winners in a thrilling encounter when the sides met in round three, will we see a repeat of that this time round?
Big upsets and massive scorelines: Round 10 full wrap, results from Group 7 Rugby League
Past the halfway mark and into the second half of the year, Group 7 is heating up for 2023.
Round ten brought an interesting dynamic, as teams faced off each other for the second time this season.
Interestingly though, not every team was able to do the league double over their opponents, as certain teams turned first round losses into round 10 wins.
Check out the full wrap of another enthralling round of Group 7 action.
Crucial victory for Superoos
The Jamberoo Superoos have emerged victorious in a crucial middle of the table clash against the Kiama Knights, winning 32-20 in a back-and-forth affair.
Star centre Cameron Cornell was at the heart of everything for the Kiama side, twice assisting his outside winger Matt Morris, first with a neat pass and second with a perfect grubber kick after Cornell broke the Jamberoo line at the halfway line.
Kiama’s defence would ultimately be their downfall against Jamberoo who picked their moments to punish the Knights, first through Dean Watling who burst through a hole between Cornell and Morris to score down the right.
Jayden Morgan would follow this up by powering his way over the line from dummy half, to which second-rower Simon Maslanka saw and replicated the exact same move later on for the Superoos.
The game would continue to seesaw as Travis Barrett-Hancock got the Knights back in it, smashing his way through two defenders and scoring after some nice work in the build-up by halfback Thomas Atkins.
With the game locked at 14-14, Jamberoo would revisit the combo that has been deadly for them this season, being Mark Asquith and Corey Grigg.
Grigg would burst through the line off a short ball from Asquith to make it tries in three game on the trot, before Asquith would get one of his own shortly after, being in the right place to support Jordan Xuereb after the winger escaped down the left flank.
Cameron Cornell would look to inspire his side yet again late on, putting on a massive left foot step to find a hole in the Superoos line and score his sixth try of the season.
But the Superoos would put the game to bed late on through Cameron Brabender, using the ‘If it ain’t broke’ approach and powering over from dummy half for the third time in one game, exposing some defensive frailties of the Knights.
Bulldogs upset league leaders
In the upset of the round, the Milton Ulladulla Bulldogs have stamped their intentions of playing finals footy this season with a massive 27-16 over the Group 7 leaders the Nowra-Bomaderry Jets.
And end result that didn’t look like it would be the case early on, as halfback Clyde Parsons steered the ship for the home side in a productive first half.
Braydon Rumble Walsh opened the scoring for the Jets after Parsons sent a cross-field kick to the right corner for his winger to field and score.
Parsons would then finish off a slick move right off the training ground involving the Jets spine in Adam Quinlan and Dylan Farrell.
Matori Atunsaia would then charge on to a Parsons pass from close range to give the Jets a 16-0 lead at the break.
Whatever coach Andy Lynch said to his side at the break must have been the most inspiring rally of all time, as the Bulldogs came out a different outfit in the second half.
The Bulldogs were playing with desire, first through Cody Roach regaining his own grubber kick, followed up by captain Blake Mackey who finished off a wild play which involved crazy offloads and passes before eventually scoring in the corner.
Mackey was then on hand again with an inspirational try, chasing down a Roach grubber than Jets’ fullback Adam Quinlan thought was going dead, but Mackey was there to dive and plant it down to level the game up.
The decisive moment would come with under 10 minutes on the clock, when the usually reliable Quinlan had another moment to forget as he threw an intercept pass for Bulldogs halfback Travis Wooden to claim and run the length of the field to score.
Cody Roach cemented a Bulldogs buffer with a late field goal, before a late Dwayne Longbottom try against a broken Jets defensive line sealed a massive victory for the travelling Bulldogs.
Wounded Warilla woes continue
The luckless Warilla-Lake South Gorillas slumped to a fourth straight defeat going down 12-0 to the Shellharbour Sharks.
This meant a Sharks double over the Gorillas for season 2023 after their round one victory.
Down on numbers and down on morale, the Gorillas took to social media after the match to highlight the courage showed by their side to put on a good performance despite a further three players added to the injury list.
This was in fact statistically the second best defensive performance the Gorillas have had this season, with just the two tries conceded to the Sharks a much improved defensive display.
The result aligned perfectly with what Shellharbour coach Abed Atallah highlighted as the strengths and weaknesses of his side at the hallway point of the season, being strong in defence and still lacking in attack.
The two tries they did inflict on the Gorillas came courtesy of the boot of influential five-eighth Emanuel Sultana.
Brody Rigg would first score under the posts off a fizzing Sultana grubber kick to open the scoring.
James Ralphs would follow this up shortly after with his third try in two weeks, this time off a Sultana cross-field bomb.
That would be all the scoring as both sides were held scoreless in the second half, giving important points to the Sharks and compounding Warilla woes.
Gerringong bounce back with dominant win
After a disappointing couple of weeks, Gerringong have returned to the winners circle in style with a 54-0 romping of the Berry Shoalhaven Heads Magpies.
Nine tries scored and a perfect nine conversions nailed off the boot of Jake Taylor gave the Lions the biggest margin of victory of the 2023 Group 7 season so far.
It was a case of the Lions picking their moments to slice through the Magpies defensive holes from range, with the likes of Rixon Russell, Danny Wedd and Toby Gumley-Quine all forcing tries after the Lions found pockets of space from around the 20-30m mark.
Winger Wesley Pring cemented his claim to being the fastest man in the competition, leaving the Magpies clutching at thin air as he finished a blitzing weaving run down the right flank in the corner.
Having scored one in the first half, the opposite winger Luke Holland picked up the try of the match, charging on to a Magpies attacking kick and bursting back through the broken line, running 90m and scoring a peach of a solo try.
Isaac Laughton would follow that up with a long range dime of his own, cleaning up a loose pass on the right flank and running 80m untouched to also get his second of the game.
A return to form for the Lions and a day to forget for the Magpies.
Stingrays hold off in-form Eagles
The Stingrays of Shellharbour put last week’s derby loss behind them to get the better of the valiant Albion Park-Oak Flats Eagles 32-16.
An interesting matchup on paper, with the Stingrays suffering back-to-back losses, while the Eagles were coming into the game on the back of their first two wins of the season.
Both teams were going at it on the try scoring front in the first half, with Ben Weatherall picking up a brace for the Stingrays, joined by lock forward Ben Warner, while for the Eagles Kane Skarratts was in the right place at the right time in support to pick up two tries of his own.
Down by just one try coming into the second half, Cooper Tunbridge finished off a nice spreading move by the Eagles involving Jesse Prinsse and Kane Ball to make the game all level.
It was a Weatherall-fest for the Stingrays though, with brother Zaan Weatherall getting a try of his own off a cross-field kick from Jake Horton.
The game was still in the balance with under 10 minutes on the clock and just four points the margin, but a couple of late tries to Jake Horton and Colby Smith ensured the Stingrays would leave with a valuable couple of points to close the gap on the Jets at the top.
Join the conversation
America’s Cup women gearing up for new fight after shock loss
Shocked Australian sailors hugged and cried when bundled out of the women’s America’s Cup. A quick reset and they were gearing up for a new fight - and another crack at winning the event
Read more
Plan to transform ‘informal carpark’ into mega shop top apartments
A vacant block currently being used as an ‘informal carpark’ in a NSW south coast town could soon be transformed into a major shop top apartment complex if $10m plans are approved by a regional council. See the plans.
Read more