NSWRL Junior Reps: All the latest from round six of Harold Matts, Lisa Fiaola, SG Ball, Tarsha Gale Cup
The SG Ball Cup has a new competition leader following a fiery top of the table clash, while the Warriors’ U17s title defence took a huge boost. Catch up on a huge round six of the NSWRL Junior Reps.
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Round six of the NSWRL Junior Reps season is here as teams look to mount their charge for the right to play finals footy.
Stay up to date with the latest from around the grounds this weekend in the Lisa Fiaola, Tarsha Gale, Harold Matthews and SG Ball Cup competitions.
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Lisa Fiaola – Tarsha Gale – Harold Matthews – SG Ball
LISA FIAOLA
KNIGHTS OVERPOWER DRAGONS
Newcastle has all-but secured a spot in the Lisa Fiaola finals after a crushing 34-0 defeat of St George at Raymond Terrace.
The Knights opened up a matchwinning break with a commanding first half that saw them race in five unanswered tries to set up a 28-0 buffer through the opening 30 minutes.
After Atlanta Hetariki was able to extend the lead beyond 30, St George’s defence was able to tighten up as they kept the Knights at bay for the final 25 minutes of the game.
Newcastle improves its record to 5-1 for the season with a bye still to come.
EELS MIDDLES DOMINATE
Parramatta have made an emphatic statement to the rest of the competition after they humbled western rivals Penrith 46-0 at Eric Tweedale Stadium.
Entering the clash in third spot behind fellow unbeaten sides Canterbury and Central Coast, the Eels pack turned on a show that will have their rivals looking over their shoulders.
Winger Freedom Crichton Ropati finished with a hat-rick but Parramatta went straight through Penrith’s middle as they opened up a 28-0 halftime lead.
Props Leonia Vei and Isabella Bell churned out massive metres and both crossed the stripe in a blistering opening four minutes.
Both sides lost players to the sin bin for high tackles either side of the interval. Not that it made any difference to the result as the Eels continued to pile on the points in a nine-try rampage.
Centre Georgia Wansey also had a day to remember, finishing with a double in Parra’s five straight win.
BEARS ON THE BOARD
North Sydney did it the hard way against Manly, coming from behind to win their first game of the season with a hard fought 12-10 victory at Aubrey Keech Reserve.
When Norths trailed 10-0 in the second half it was the Sea Eagles who seemed destined to open their account for the season.
But when tenacious backrower Tahira Armeda bounced out of several tackles to cross next to the posts, the Bears trailed by four and grew an extra leg with 20 minutes still to play.
Five-eighth Indianna Carroll crossed eight minutes later for what proved to be the match winner.
After steaming onto a room service bounce on halfway, Armeda found Carroll in support and the No. 6 raced away to level the scores before Lily-May Price-Jones added the extras to kickstart the celebrations.
Manly scored two tries in the first half. Leilani Carpenter grabbed the first and was quickly followed across the stripe by prop Zaira-Mia Tofilau Talau-Brown.
BULLDOG BAGS SIX
Canterbury’s Raneh Siteine had a day out at Hammondville Oval scoring an incredible six tries as the Bulldogs hammered a winless South Sydney 80-0.
The reigning premiers once again showed the gap in class between the top and bottom sides as they raced to a 46-0 halftime lead before going on with the job to finish with 16 tries at the end of the 60 minutes.
Siteine made the most of the wide open spaces on the right edge. The winger scooted along the touchline to score the first of her three before the break. She added another straight after the resumption, then after a brief hiatus, rounded out the match with the final two four-pointers.
Asha Taumoepeau-Williams and Shakira Lui both finished with doubles. Lui added eight conversions for a personal haul of 24 points.
SHARKS UPSET
Cronulla headed south and picked up win number-three after the Sharks got the better of Illawarra 16-6 at WIN Stadium.
Sitting one spot behind the Steelers in seventh, Cronulla got off to a bad start when Zahri Lester was sin binned for a professional foul after just six minutes.
They held on in the backrower’s absence and opened the scoring 10 minutes later through winger Hayley Moore. The lead shot out to 10 just before halftime when Makayla Vakauta made the Steelers pay for a fumbled bomb, the centre on hand to race the dregs across the stripe for Cronulla’s second.
The change of ends made no impact to the Sharks’ momentum and they put the result to bed when second-rower Rhianna Karika crashed over next to the posts for a 16-point buffer.
Illawarra kept plugging away and were rewarded in the final minute when Holly Czornobej sliced through to score.
ROOSTERS SHUT DOWN RAIDERS
Central Coast remains undefeated through six rounds after keeping Canberra scoreless in a 32-0 shutout at Woy Woy Oval.
An early Shenae Cassidy double had the Roosters playing from in front and by the time the end of the half rolled around they had opened up a comfortable 18-0 advantage.
Canberra’s defence held solid for the first 11 minutes of the half as they looked to cut into the margin.
But it was Meg McPhail who broke the second half deadlock, before Bessy Combo put the finishing touches on a solid outing.
TARSHA GALE
SEA EAGLES STEAL LATE POINT
Manly and North Sydney couldn’t be separated through 60 minutes with the two playing out a 14-all draw at Aubrey Keech Reserve.
The two sides were evenly matched for much of the first half, with Kassidy Kahotea breaking the deadlock in the 15th minute for Manly before Lilly Wilson responded for the visitors.
Just as it looked like North Sydney would take a lead into the break, Katie O’Mara crossed to edge the Sea Eagles ahead 10-6.
The Bears came out of the sheds with a renewed vigour as the rain started to tumble, starting with Taya Flood cutting out two teammates to put Ava Vaefaga over the in the corner to level it up.
They had the lead once again just minutes later as Bridget Shearer scooted from dummy half to score, with Manly’s Dena-Leigh Broughton sent to the sin bin for starting a push and shove following the try.
Just as it looked like the Bears would hold on for their first win, a lovely chip from Ruby Jeffries was swooped upon by Jaydanaye Anguna to see both sides split the points.
BULLDOGS STAY ON TOP
Canterbury remains undefeated through six rounds of the Tarsha Gale Cup after hammering South Sydney 44-0 at Hammondville Oval.
Front rower Josinah Filisi Tauiliili had a double inside the opening seven minutes as the Bulldogs took command with a dominant 22-0 first half showing.
They were able to add another four tries in the second half, including a further two to Tauiliili as she brought up an incredible four-try haul.
It’s the first time the Bulldogs have kept an opposition side scoreless this season as they hold outright first and seal a finals spot.
PENRITH GRINDS OUT KEY WIN
Penrith has put itself in the box seat for a finals spot after upsetting Parramatta 20-14 at Eric Tweedale Stadium.
Madison Wilson maintained her tryscoring form with a wide shift seeing her get outside her marker to open the scoring in the sixth minute.
Ava Jones levelled things up for the home side minutes later when she caught the goal line defence napping out of dummy half, before Samantha Hanrahan finished off a nice piece of broken play set up by a Mya Muller offload to put the Panthers ahead 10-4 at the break.
The two traded blows early in the second half before Julie Notise’s second try of the afternoon gave the Panthers a 10-point buffer heading into the final eight minutes.
They held off a late Eels charge after Sualo Lafoga crossed to seal the vital victory.
STEELERS DEFENCE STANDS TALL
Illawarra escaped a tricky fixture with a crucial two points, holding out Cronulla 12-8 in Wollongong.
Conditions weren’t conducive to attacking play as the rain bucketed down, before a six-minute burst saw both teams pile on points.
Chloe Shephard finished off a spread in the 14th minute, but the Sharks dropped it from the kick-off and Illawarra hit back just a few players later as Seriah Palepale crashed over from close range.
The Steelers couldn’t contain the ensuing kick-off and it was a carbon copy of the first try for Cronulla as a spread allowed Shephard to bring up her double as they led 8-6 at halftime.
It was Trinity Tauaneai to put the Steelers back in front just five minutes into the second stanza as they backed their defence to get them over the line.
They did just that, grinding out the win in a low-scoring affair.
KNIGHTS SLIDE PAST DRAGONS
Newcastle put on a defensive masterclass to deny St George 24-10 at Raymond Terrace.
Stella Lewis gave the home side a dream start with a quick double to have them in front 10-0 through as many minutes.
Ana Ahmat added another try to her tally for the Dragons before Brandy Simpson and Summer Dowell helped to put the home side in front 20-6 at the break.
The Knights were reduced to 12 early in the second half after Addie Hagan was sent to the sin bin for a professional foul, denying St George a quick tap after she was penalised for a hair pull.
Newcastle withstood the charge from St George and extended late in the piece through Stevie Botham to record a strong win.
RAIDERS CAUSE ALMIGHTY BOILOVER
Canberra produced one of the upsets of the season, knocking off the Sydney Roosters 22-18 at Woy Woy Oval.
Things went according to script early as Ellie Brander and Tyra Ekepati helped the Roosters open up an early 8-0 lead.
That’s when the Raiders decide to flip it, taking a 16-8 lead into the sheds after Gabriella Savage scored a double and Summer Luamanu put the finishing touches on a first half fightback.
Just as Canberra looked to extend its margin, an Aaliyah Boland intercept got the Roosters on the front foot, with Grace Dabin capitalising on a spread the very next play to score.
Desperate Raiders defence held out an equaliser, and they immediately went on the attack with a shift on their own 20m putting Holly Williams into space, who chipped inside for Luamanu, who picked up a spilt ball from the Roosters to put them back in front by 10.
The Roosters cut it back once again after a huge hit from Manisha Seebeck on her opposing winger forced a mistake in-goal for Mahlie Cashin to simply touch down with three minutes remaining.
Sydney threw one last hail mary at them, but Canberra defended their line well.
HAROLD MATTHEWS
BEARS EDGE OUT RABBITOHS
South Sydney has slipped to its second-successive defeat after North Sydney prevailed 22-20 in a thriller at Redfern Oval.
The home side booted clear early as Soane Naufahu and Zane Hill helped them open up a 12-0 lead through 10 minutes.
Five unanswered tries in the space of 24 minutes turned the game on its heads as the Bears went ahead by 10 after doubles to Isaac Khoudair and Saxon Gaw.
Souths hit back to cut the margin to just two with five minutes to play, but Norths was able to hold on to give their finals hopes a massive boost.
CLINICAL ROOSTERS
The Sydney Roosters secured a much needed third win after they disposed of a strong Cronulla outfit 24-12 at Cronulla High School.
In a contest between two evenly matched teams, the visitors got the early jump through centre Bastion Armstrong before Cronulla prop Sidney Truong levelled the scores midway through the opening half.
In a decisive moment several minutes from the interval, Cronulla were made to pay the price for an error on their own line. In the next set Kobi Siltala used his size and strength to power across for a 12-6 lead.
With the contest up for grabs, Charlie Webb put the Roosters on their way with a couple of magic touches after the break.
First, the dashing half broke clear before turning the ball inside to halves partner Lachlan Metcalfe to score. And his grubber with eight minutes to play was perfect placed for Marquis Sando to extend the margin to 18 points.
Truong grabbed his second in the dying stages but it was all too late.
CENTRAL COAST TOO STRONG
The Central Coast Roosters continued their storming start to the season with a comfortable 40-12 win over Canterbury at Woy Woy.
It was the Roosters’ fourth win in five starts and keeps them nicely placed among the front runners in the march towards the finals.
Winger Corbin Devaney opened the scoring and finished with a hat-rick in the seven tries to two demolition.
Jaedyn Tuigamala-Nicholas crossed for Canterbury’s first on halftime, giving the Dogs a sniff at 18-6.
But it was all Central Coast after the break with Blessing Foini, Eli Bennett and Fynn Wilson joining Devaney with second half four-pointers.
MELBOURNE, PENRITH UNABLE TO BE SPLIT
Melbourne succumbed to a late Penrith charge to be denied its first win of the Harold Matthews season, with the two sides playing out a 22-all draw at Seabrook Reserve.
The Storm were eager to impress their home fans and did just that with a dominant first half, which started with Max Tokava scoring inside three minutes and was rounded out with an Emmanuel Walker try to put them ahead 22-6.
Penrith was able to hit back in the second half, first through Zack Fitzgerald and then Ryan Cloey to get them to within six points with seven minutes remaining.
Their comeback was complete in the dying stages as Cordell Arama proved too big and strong from 10m out to steal a late point.
KNIGHTS CLIP SEA EAGLES WINGS
Newcastle has completed a Harold Matts hat-trick, downing the high-flying Sea Eagles 24-10 at Raymond Terrace.
Zane Hopkins crashed over from dummy half to get the ball rolling, before the rangy Sifa Oldfield used his size to reach out and score to get Manly back in the contest.
The margin was pushed out to eight just before the break as Cooper Votano got past the defence with a nice dummy.
Jett McKay and Ashton Large exchanged tries early in the second half as the Sea Eagles looked to cut into the margin.
They couldn’t, and Ashton Allen helped put the finishing touches on a win that keeps the Knights in the hunt for the finals.
ILLAWARRA SNATCHES LATE WIN
Illawarra kept its unbeaten run in the Harold Matts alive with another late win, downing St George 12-10 in Wollongong.
Steven Tamaseu gave the visitors an early advantage before the in-form Jaxon Ballinger responded minutes later as the Steelers held a 6-4 halftime lead.
Phoenix Johns again put St George in front just five minutes into the second half, and they received another boost when Cruz McGuinness was sent to the sin bin for an ugly hip drop on Khaled Elmasri.
With time winding down, the Dragons gifted possession back to the Steelers when they didn’t have a dummy half in place.
They would take full advantage, attacking the left-hand side and scoring in the corner through Ballinger to set up a conversion to win the game.
Tayler Humphries stepped up and put it straight over the black dot to improve their record to 5-0.
RAIDERS FINISH TOO STRONG
Canberra’s slim Harold Matts finals hopes remain alive after coming from behind to down Parramatta 20-18 at Eric Tweedale Stadium.
An entertaining first half saw Samuel Polley pick up a double as the Eels recovered from conceding inside two minutes to take a slender 12-10 lead at the break.
Bailey Logue turned things in Canberra’s favour soon after halftime, before Parramatta gain nosed ahead through Kasinga Noa with 10 left to play.
That’s when Joaz Ayamiseba stepped up for the Raiders, as he literally put on a fancy footwork display close to the line to score with five minutes remaining in what would prove the be the matchwinner.
WARRIORS TAKE GRAND FINAL REMATCH
New Zealand’s title defence is well on track after they prevailed in a rematch of last year’s decider, with a similar result as they came out on top 34-10 in Camden.
The Warriors early advantage faced a setback after Lucian Mikaele was sent to the sin bin for a late tackle on the kicker, with the Magpies scoring the next set.
New Zealand recovered strongly however to take a 20-4 lead into halftime.
They powered further ahead as Kaian Olsen, Jeremiah Lemana and Bishop Neal all got across the line to open up a 30-point margin, resigning Wests to its fourth-straight defeat.
SG BALL
TIGERS BACK ON TRACK
Balmain recovered from a last-start thrashing to get back in the winner’s circle with a 30-22 win over Canterbury at Leichhardt Oval.
They had to do it the hard way, coming back from 10-0 down early in the contest and trailing 16-14 at the break.
Xavier Tauaifaiga brought up a double early in the second half as the Tigers held a 24-22 advantage late in the contest, before Joseph Partch’s second in the closing stages was able to seal the classy victory.
ROOSTERS HIT BACK IN STYLE
The Sydney Roosters recovered from back-to-back losses with a major statement, taking down Cronulla on home soil 25-14.
The Roosters were gifted a dream start when Phillip Lavakeiaho barged his way over from close range and then Kanaan Magele followed it up after being turned under by Jaxson Allen.
Things started to turn when star half Toby Rodwell had to come from the field for a HIA after coming out of an attempted tackle on Blake Watman reeling, before Blake Wardrobe cut the margin to six when he took the Roosters line on and came up trumps.
Rodwell was cleared to return and made his presence felt, slotting a field goal on the stroke of halftime to put the Roosters ahead 13-6.
Bailey Leach helped cut the margin to just one score, before Kynan Toeavi and Allen were able to extend it further during a key part of the half.
The win puts the Roosters back into the six after falling out of it last week.
RABBITOHS DEMOLISH BEARS
South Sydney was in no mood to muck around as it put Norths through the cleaners to the tune of 48-16 at Redfern Oval.
They needed just 41 seconds to punish the Bears for a mistake from the kick-off as fullback Charlie Poynton was able to surge through the defence.
In the blink of an eye the score ballooned out to 24-0 through the opening 15 minutes as Joshua Ballard, Charlie Mann and Taj Alvarez inflicted further pain on the visitors.
Ballard added another two before the halftime siren to bring up his hat-trick and put the Rabbitohs ahead 34-4.
Buster Hindmarsh gave the Bears an encouraging start to the second half, but any momentum was quickly evaporated as a second to Poynton and another to Maddax Fui put the game beyond any doubt.
Ballard finished the outing with four tries.
MELBOURNE DENIES PANTHERS
Melbourne held onto its spot in the SG Ball top-six with a surging 30-18 win over Penrith at Seabrook Reserve.
Kyu Fiaui, Waka Hammond and Amaziah Murgha all crossed in the opening 15 minutes as the Storm raced out to an 18-0 advantage, before Harry Wald helped peg the margin back to two converted tries at the break.
Tully Howell gave the visitors the best possible start in the second half when he cut it back to just six, and soon after Wald’s second had the scores tied to set up a thrilling final 20 minutes.
The Storm needed a spark and it came in the form of Murgha, who fielded a kick on his own 7m line before stepping his way through Penrith’s defence to complete an amazing 93m effort to put them in front with 10 to play.
It was Murgha once again who helped seal the win for the Storm, slicing his way through defenders from close range to help them see off a gritty Panthers side.
KNIGHTS POWER PAST MANLY
Newcastle kept its SG Ball finals hopes alive after downing Manly 44-6 at Raymond Terrace.
It was the Sea Eagles who struck first through Matthew Crossingham, but the rest of the half was all the Knights.
Haami Loza started the charge, before Jaylan Bishop and tryscoring machine Aidan Gow added yet another to his tally to surge the home side to 16-6 in front at the break.
Ezekiel Ietu, Sosaia Latu and Toby Winter soon had the Knights in front by 22 less than 15 minutes into the second half.
Gow added another late to take his season haul to 14 tries.
STEELERS PROGRESS FORWARD
Illawarra moved back into the SG Ball finals picture after taking down the defending premiers St George 32-6 at WIN Stadium.
Leeroy Weatherall and Drew Langdon had the Steelers racing the clock early as they shot out to a 12-0 advantage.
A Ben Jackson offload had Illawarra on the front foot again and Ezekiel Kennedy burrowed his way over from dummy half to push the lead to 18.
St George stopped the bleeding and struck first in the second half through Christopher Makhlouf when they had numbers out wide.
But a penalty for an incorrect play the ball on the first tackle after the kick-off gifted Steelers territory and they pounced as Daniel Meafou got an offload away to Mason Phillips to score.
The result was sealed soon after as Aaymon Fitzgibbon took on the line and popped an offload up to Connor Sadler to barge his way over.
EELS MOVE TO THE TOP
Parramatta remains the only undefeated SG Ball team after knocking off Canberra 30-18.
Lincoln Fletcher took on the line early and busted the Raiders to open the scoring in the eighth minute, before a short ball from Jayze Tuigamala to Samuel Hyne put the front rower over to edge the visitors ahead.
Dom Farrugia and Andes Johansson were both able to score in their respective corners, but with no conversions Parramatta’s lead was just six at the break.
It was Tuigamala in the thick of things to start the second half as he powered his way through defenders to tie it up through 43 minutes.
An error from the next set gave the Eels possession on Canberra’s line and Isaac Jim showed his strength to spin out of a tackle and cross.
Just as it looked like Farrugia had his second, the touch judge ruled him out, and moments later Johansson was sin binned for a shoulder to the head.
It didn’t hinder them as Lorenzo Talataina stepped his way through the middle to open up a 12-point margin, only for Ezra Leota to pounce on a dropped bomb minutes later to keep the Raiders in the game.
That resistance was denied when Farrugia crossed for his second, with Tuigamala and Ryda Talagi coming together and subsequently sent to the bin.
MAGPIES SURVIVE SCARE
Western Suburbs remains alive in the SG Ball Cup after holding out a Warriors charge to prevail 22-18 at Kirkham Oval.
The tryscoring run of Saint Fuatimau continued as he put together a double in the space of seven minutes as the Warriors struggled early.
Rico Lemalie gave the visitors a much-needed boost just before the break, and by the time Elijah Solomona crossed early in the second half they found themselves ahead 18-12.
Archie Duncombe made it four tries for the home side to the Warriors’ three in the 44th minute, but their inaccuracy with the boot meant they still trailed by two.
Neither side was able to brea the deadlock, before Kohan Lewis barged his way over with six minutes remaining to extend Wests’ winning run to three.
Originally published as NSWRL Junior Reps: All the latest from round six of Harold Matts, Lisa Fiaola, SG Ball, Tarsha Gale Cup
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