Close contests and thrilling finishes! Full round three wrap of Group 7 Rugby League
Group 7 Rugby League returned after a one week break to five enthralling contests, with some of the closest margins we’ve seen all season. Check out the full wrap of round three.
The South Coast News
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Group 7 Rugby League returned after the Easter break with round three action taking place, undoubtedly the most entertaining round across the board so far.
Three games were decided by a margin of just six points as thrillingly tight battle took place down the south coast of NSW, with five teams gritting their teeth to emerge victorious.
Check out the thrills and spills in our full wrap of all five games that took place across the weekend.
Don’t forget as well to catch up on all the action from round two.
Gorillas flex their muscles against flightless Magpies
The Warilla-Lake South Gorillas found their groove against the Berry Shoalhaven Heads Magpies, running away with a 32-12 victory.
It was first half domination from the premiers, putting on five unanswered to take a 26-0 lead into the sheds.
Halfback Blair Grant was a standout performer for the Gorillas, steering the ship and getting his hands on seemingly everything all day.
Grant assisted fullback Justin Jones and interchange forward Zane Boersma for both his tries, picking the perfect passes to feed his teammates into pockets of space.
The skilful halfback also picked up a try of his own, retrieving his own chip kick which bounced favourably for the no. 7 and planting it down for four points.
Rapid hooker Samuel Hooper picked up two tries himself, finding himself on the end of fast breaks on two occasions to go in to score uncontested.
The Gorillas took the foot off the accelerator slightly in the second half, with Louie Chilver and Bailey Morris securing two tries to the Gorillas one in the second half, but at that point the game was well out of reach.
The one damper on a solid Gorillas day was the injury of Zane Boersma, appearing to dislocate his shoulder in the scoring of his second try.
Superoos and Eagles slog it out in thriller
Jamberoo outlasted a valiant fight from the Albion Park-Oak Flats Eagles to win 28-22 and leave the visiting side winless from their opening three matches.
It was a physical battle between the two sides, featuring a number of big hit of the year contenders, headlined by Mitchell Potts thumping his opposing winger in Jamberoo’s Ben Barnard on a devastating kick return in the second half, to which Barnard firmed and got on with the game to his credit.
The Eagles got out of the gates the quickest with early tries to Chad Harrison and Cooper Tunbridge on the productive left flank for the Eagles.
Jamberoo would reply with three unanswered tries from Mark Asquith, Thomas North and Jarrod Booth to take the lead into the break.
It was a back and forth affair in the second half, with Eagles five-eighth James Walsh getting the Eagles back in the contest early on, before interchange hooker for the Superoos Tyson Duff burrowed his way over from dummy half to give the Superoos the advantage again.
The Eagles would refuse to go down, with Cooper Tunbridge scoring a second try after a good right to left spread.
The home side would prevail however, with captain halfback Jono Dallas putting his body on the line to smash his way over the line for the game sealer, coming off a bit worse for wear after the collision but ultimately getting the job done and securing a second win of the season for Jamberoo.
Stingrays go three from three
Sloppy conditions underfoot did nothing to prevent a cracker of a game unfolding in Shellharbour as the undefeated Stingrays beat the Milton Ulladulla Bulldogs 28-16.
Shellharbour commanded the scoring in the first half, scoring three tries thanks to the speed and positional play of fullback Kieren Moss, who was untouchable for a first half double, joined on the scoresheet by winger Jayden Harris.
The Bulldogs only try of the first half would be a full field intercept from second rower Blake Mackey, who just about had the legs to go the full distance and outlast the chasing pack.
Bulldogs centre Mitchell Simington scored a terrific solo try in the second half, working his way into space down the right flank before stepping Moss to go in to score.
It was back and forth from there, with Stingrays hooker Colby Smith scoring from a dummy half run, before Bulldogs winger Liam Conlon finished in the corner after a good right to left spread.
The Stingrays would prevail however, with halfback Toby Peters finishing the game off late on with a try after a break down the right, leaving the Stingrays at the top of the Group 7 table as the only undefeated side.
Knights narrowly defend against the hungry Sharks
The Kiama Sharks prevailed in a tough fought 26-20 win over the Shellharbour Sharks at the beautifully scenic Kiama Showground on Sunday.
Both sides showed their intent early on, with Kiama fullback Bradley Killmore and Shellharbour winger Jye Brooker opening the scoring for their sides.
Kiama second rower Thomas Angel had an excellent first half, proving too hard to stop close to the line for the Knights’ second try, before providing an excellent offload to fellow second-rower Cameron Cornell who extended the margin to 16-4 at the break.
Shellharbour halfback Braxton Wallace got his side back into the game early in the second half, bursting onto a run like a front rower close to the line to score.
Crafty Knights hooker Daniel Martin got the Knights back on top though, perfecting the dummy half scoot close to the line to score.
The Sharks surged back into the contest with back to back tries to winger Eze Harper after great work in the build up from Wallace, as well as lock forward Ethan O’Connell crashing over from close range.
The Knights would hold off the attempted resurgence with a second try from Cameron Cornell again after a nice right to left spread, giving the two points to the home side.
Two-part victory for the Lions over the Jets
Under unique circumstances, the Gerringong Lions outlasted the Nowra Bomaderry Jets in a two-part thriller at Bomaderry Sporting Complex.
The game started on Saturday night, with two Lions tries and one Jets try leaving the game at 12-4 to the Gerringong side, before it was halted due to lighting issues at the ground.
As a result, the game had to be delayed and resumed the next day at 2pm, with the game commencing with the same score from the 25 minute mark.
The Jets started part two of the encounter the stronger, with tries on the resumption to Kurt Quinlan and Braydon Rumble Walsh.
The centres for the Lions would get them back in the lead, first a 70 metre run from Toby Gumley-Quine after pouncing on an error, before Harold Matthews Cup superstar Hayden Buchanan crossed on debut for the Lions.
The Jets would get back within two after centre Brayden Omoeboh finished on the right, but the Lions would hit the knockout blow late on with Gumley-Quine crossing for a second.
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