Bounce backs and upsets: Biggest stories from a huge round two of Group 7 Rugby League

A wet weekend across the state did nothing to stop an exciting round of Group 7 Rugby League action down the south coast of NSW. Check out the biggest stories and full wrap of round two.

Group 7 Rugby League round two.

OVERCAST conditions around the south coast of NSW didn’t get in the way of some more exciting Group 7 Rugby League action as round two took place.

The featured game of the round pitted two first round winners and 2022 finals sides against each other, with the Stingrays of Shellharbour hosting the Gerringong Lions at Flinders Field.

It was to be the home side emerging victorious, with a 32-22 victory sending the Stingrays to the top of the Group 7 ladder as the only team to go two wins from two to start the season.

This caps off an excellent week for the Stingrays, having just celebrated their first graduate to the NRL in Jack Bostock, who was named to debut for the Dolphins earlier in the week.

Coach Tom Warner was happy that his side could enter the Easter break with a win, but said there’s still plenty to work on based on how they played.

“We fell asleep a bit towards the end there,” Warner said.

“We definitely need to work on our discipline, we went away from the game plan in the second half, we only completed 10 out of 16 sets.

“You just can’t be doing that against quality sides.”

It was a tale of two halves between the Stingrays and the Lions, with all six of the Stingrays tries coming in the first half.

The side found success in attacking the left edge, with centre Taioalo Vaivai scoring once and setting up a couple for his winger Jayden Harris who scored a first half hat trick.

Warner praised his side’s goal line defence, as twice they were able to remain composed and turn defence into attack with two full field intercept tries, one from Harris and the other from Vaivai who then fed it to Harris to finish.

Nathan Ford for the Gerringong Lions. Photo: Gerringong Lions

The Lions would mount a comeback in the second half with four unanswered tries, with prop forward Alexander Weir proving to be the most influential on the park in his side’s loss, scoring the first try for his side before providing the pre-assist to the next two.

Fullback Jack Walsh also came to life in the second half, creating assists to two of his side’s tries, as well as providing a silky flick pass pre-assist to centre Hamish Holland who was able to offload to Kal Collins for Gerringong’s fourth try.

For a while it looked as though it was going to be a comeback for the ages, which would have been a fairytale moment for Gerringong lock forward Danny Wedd, who was playing his 100th first grade game for the Lions.

The Stingrays were able to hold on though, sending them to the peak of the Group 7 ladder and giving the Lions their first defeat of the season.

The Jamberoo Superoos were unable to go back-to-back in round two. Photo: Contributed

The Nowra-Bomaderry Jets are the only other side to remain undefeated after two rounds, defeating the Jamberoo Superoos 28-18 after their draw to the Milton Ulladulla Bulldogs in round one.

Tyson Simpson, highlighted as one of the players to watch this season, was a standout for the Jets on the right edge, working tirelessly all day and picking a try for his efforts.

Halfback Clyde Parsons also picked up a double for the Jets, joined on the scoresheet by Brayden Omoeboe and captain Adam Quinlan.

Across the grounds, the Warilla-Lake South Gorillas bounced back from their disappointing round one loss to pick up a 32-22 win over the Albion Park-Oak Flats Eagles.

This is the first win for the Gorillas in their title defence aspirations, while also spelling back to back defeats for the Eagles who are yet to take off in 2023.

The Warilla-Lake South Gorillas bounced back in round two. Photo: Warilla-Lake South Gorillas Facebook

Fullback Justin Jones crossed for a hat trick of tries from fullback, bringing his season total to four tries, while hooker Samuel Hooper and both centres Kye Deane and Darnell Walker also crossed to score.

The Eagles put up a valiant fight, with the Walsh brothers Jack and James combining for three of the side’s four tries, but it wasn’t enough to stop the resilient Gorillas from picking up their first win of the year.

The Shellharbour Sharks were unable to carry their round one momentum into their meeting with the Berry Shoalhaven Heads Magpies, with the black and white stripes narrowing emerging victorious 14-12.

Tries to Billy Hayburn and Tahu Arberry were enough to get the Magpies over the line, no doubt giving the side confidence having been held scoreless by the Gerringong Lions in round one.

The Kiama Knights also bounced back from round one defeat to triumph over the Milton Ulladulla Bulldogs 26-4 away from home.