Darwin Brothers put 80 points past South Darwin in NRL NT Round 13
The Darwin Brothers all but confirmed their spot in the top two, while the Northern Sharks women turned out one of the defensive shifts of the NRL NT season. Read all the Round 13 action.
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The Darwin Brothers were merciless against a hapless South Darwin outfit, running in try after try to further cement their place in the NRL NT top two.
The Brethren have been the form side of the back half of the season, and didn’t let up the gas when they came against the bottom placed Rabbitohs.
And despite the Bunnies turning in some strong and spirited performances throughout season 2024, it was clear early on they were in for a long match against the Brothers.
Trent Kurnoth, Antonio James and Nick Yarran all ran in tries within the opening 10 minutes to start off the Brothers 82-7 win.
Their attacking ferocity led to 54-0 by half time, and when all was said and done Caleb Niki and Aaron Kurnoth both had hat tricks to their name, and were among the multi-try scorers.
Equally, as impressive was their defensive efforts with Darcy Holmes hitting man after man, while captain Drew Tobin, who scored himself, was also relentless on the tackle.
South Darwin stayed in the fight despite the score line and their refusal to give in was rewarded with a try late in the second half.
A solid phase of play allowed full back Andrew Riddle to run into a gap in the Brothers’ defensive line to avoid a whitewash.
And despite a couple more tries going against them Souths were able to end the match on their own terms when Francis Wapau booted a field goal.
“We wanted to try and focus on ourselves for 80 minutes and we kept it to the level that we wanted to keep it at, so we’re pretty happy with the result,” Tobin said.
“Getting top two is the big focus, and for us we’ve been focused on taking it one week at a time and doing the things we can control.
“It’s been a great group to be a part of, the best part about it is even though we have a couple of superstars, it’s our ability as a unit that gives those guys the room to do what they do.
“Darcy Holmes must have made 50 tackles out there and while he doesn’t get the limelight with a try, it says a lot about this group that we voted him our player’s player.”
Meanwhile, the Nightcliff Dragons kept their top two contention in tact when Stylianos Vrontos scored the match winner on the siren to see off Palmerston 28-26.
The Raiders had led the Friday night encounter into the dying moments, with a win needed to push their case for top four, but it came apart on the finish line.
Vrontos was the standout for the Dragons with a hat trick, including the match winner, while Robbie Butcher and Trey Crowley controlled the game well.
The Litchfield Bears are still in third after beating Northern Sharks 28-12, to continue their streak of wins against the side that beat them in last year’s grand final.
There were six different try scorers for the Bears including the prolific David Jacobson, Jordan Lynas, Travis Packham, Brodie Morcom, Callum Dubbeld and Jaxon Breed.
Meanwhile, a huge defensive shift late in the piece saw the Northern Sharks women hold on to beat the Litchfield Bears for the first time this season.
Despite their closeness on the table, Litchfield have dominated this encounter so far in 2024 winning both in Round 1 (28-8) and Round 8 (30-18).
But some early tries and a never-say-die push right to the end saw the fourth-placed Sharks beat the side directly above them 12-8.
The Bears dominated possessions early in the piece with Erin Luchetti directing the pace while player-coach Shari Togo kept her side pushing forward.
It wasn’t long before Sophie Blake went crashing over to deliver the first points of the day to her side.
However, the Sharks responded in kind with their own ball carriers battering their way up the ground until Rekeisha Humes broke through down right wing.
They had more to be pleased with when dangerous runner Jamie Clissold pounced into space down the opposite just minutes later to score a try of her own and put her side ahead.
Several times the Bears came in response, but they were promptly rebuffed by the Sharks defence including the likes of Jordan Lewis and Kelsey Phillips.
Eventually, Togo went down to get the Bears back within touching distance, but as soon as they had Adrianne Furlan scored again for the Sharks to drag out the lead to four.
It was then that the Bears laid siege to the Sharks’ line for the best part of the closing 10 minutes, and each time it looked likely they would score they were held up or a mistake was forced.
“It’s really good for us, the girls are building, we have lots of high numbers particularly from the past seasons where we’ve only been able to field nine at times,” Lewis said.
“To have a roster and a bench is a really good feeling for us, and to beat Bears for the first time this season is great.
“It came down to digging in hard, working for the whole hour and just being there and popping up for each other, if we made a mistake we just reset and went again.”
The Darwin Brothers women also enjoyed a healthy 48-0 win against South Darwin with Cassiela Wapau scoring a hat trick.
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