Sin bins, a send off and statement victories: Full round four wrap of Group 7 Rugby League
Another enthralling weekend of Group 7 Rugby League unfolded down the south coast of NSW this weekend, with tempers flaring and statement victories. Check the full round four wrap.
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Group 7 Rugby League unfolded down the south coast of NSW over the weekend, with a number of games played in rather turbulent rainy conditions.
Now four rounds into the season, the leaders are beginning to emerge while the stragglers are beginning to get left at the rear.
Round four contained a mix of tight affairs and blowouts, with one heated fixture leading to sin bins galore and a send off.
Check out the full wrap of the round below.
Don’t forget to catch up on the action from last week as well.
Champions in the making?
We might have witnessed the passing of the crown at Cec Glenholmes Oval this weekend as the undefeated Stingrays of Shellharbour defeated the reigning premiers the Warilla-South Lake Gorillas 36-16.
A kick out on the full from the opening kick off was a sign of things to come for the Gorillas, who despite scoring first through a terrific solo try from five-eighth Tyrone Roberts, were never really able to get a hold of the high-flying Stingrays.
After the opener from the hosts, the visiting Stingrays would go in for three unanswered tries, first from prop forward Tom Warner after some elusive work from hooker Colby Smith, followed by a nice left to right spread finished by Zaan Weatherall, before Tom Warner crossed again, the big man unstoppable from close range.
The Gorillas looked as if they’d had a rousing team talk at the break, with fullback Justin Jones scoring back to back tries after the restart to reduce the margin to four.
The burst of energy for Warilla was short lived unfortunately with the Stingrays finding their rhythm again to see out the game.
Liam Scott joined fellow prop forward Warner on the scoresheet after some more good work from Smith, too tough to stop from close range after being fed into space.
The Stingrays would wrap things up with two tries down the left wing, first from Jayden Harris and then from Jarvis Austin to conclude a statement performance from the table toppers.
Gerringong reign supreme in local derby
Headlining round four of Group 7 action was a tightly contested clash between Gerringong and Kiama, with the Lions emerging victorious 12-8.
Both sides entered the fixture on two wins out of three for the season, knowing a win would do a great deal to each side’s confidence going forward.
Fullback Bradley Killmore opened the scoring for the Knights, bundling his way over the line from close range on the right side.
Gerringong halfback Rixon Russell would get his side back into it before the halftime break, mesmerising the defence off a scrum to work his way through the line and score.
Down by two points due a Kiama penalty goal, Gerringong would snag the game winning try through five-eighth Taj Ford after some blitzing and elusive playmaking to set it up from debutant fullback Nicholas Quinn.
Coach Stewart identified his side’s discipline as what got them over the line.
“We were patient with the ball,” Stewart said.
“The first 20 minutes we were going set for set with them and eventually we wore them down.
“Going forward we’ll be looking to build on this, prepared to work for each other all the time.”
Sharks ensure Shellharbour double
Shellharbour picked up their first win since round one over the Jamberoo Superoos in a 16-4 victory.
An early spell of dominance was enough for Shellharbour to run away to victory, with all three of their tries coming within the first 14 minutes.
The halves combined beautifully for the opening try, with five-eighth Emanuel Sultana winning an aerial battle off a kick from his halfback.
Hooker Brody Rigg extended the lead shortly after, crashing over from short range after throwing a huge dummy to create a hole.
Shellharbour would continue to punish the Superoos who failed to kick into gear early on, with lock forward Ethan O’Connell forcing a line break on some sleepy defence before feeding his fullback Braxton Wallace in to score under the posts.
Those three tries in the opening quarter of the match would be all the point scoring until the final minute, where Thomas North crossed for the Superoos’ only points from a nice right to left spread.
Both sides now sit on joined on four points for the season.
Bulldogs off the mark
The Bulldogs finally clicked into gear and picked up their first win of the Group 7 season against the Magpies who have been on the end of tough results two weeks in a row now.
It took 15 minutes for the Milton Ulladulla side to break down the Berry defences, with prop forward Paul Thornton punching a pocket of space before overpowering the Berry fullback in a size and power mismatch to crash over the line for the opener.
From here the Bulldogs started to find leaks in the Berry defensive line all over the park, with Cody Roach and Kirren Roughley crossing for the next two tries to create an 18 point lead.
The Magpies would get on the scoresheet before the break, possibly in controversial circumstances as halfback Joe Rogers threw a big dummy before going in to score, but it looked as if his outside runners impacted the defensive line in their decoy runs.
Milton would find their rhythm again in the second half, with super sub Jed Rogerson scoring back to back four pointers.
Berry bounced back through Caleb Robinson after a nice outside inside set play involving halfback Rogers.
The Bulldogs would seal the victory late on though with halfback Riley Wooden charging straight through to score from close range, getting the Bulldogs underway for the season and sending the Magpies back to the drawing board defensively.
Send offs and sin bins galore as Jets down Eagles
Tempers boiled over in the wet and wild conditions at Centenary Field as the Nowra Bomaderry Jets got up 26-4 over Albion Park-Oak Flats Eagles.
The sole try for the Eagles came early on through fullback James Walsh, beating a tackle down the right flank before diving over to score.
From here on out it was all the Jets, scoring the next two through Braydon Rumble Walsh in the corner and centre Atunsaia after a bomb from halfback Clyde Parsons.
Things would get out of control in the second half with a wild all-in brawl that resulted in three sin bins and a sending off to the trying scoring fullback from the Eagles James Walsh.
From here the home side couldn’t cope defensively, with Austin Thompson crashing in under the posts, Adam Quinlan finishing after a great run from Beau Luland, before a final blow came from Luland himself to force a big margin on the winless Albion Park side.
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