Nightcliff Dragons retain Chico Motlop Shield against South Darwin Rabbitohs
The Nightcliff Dragons have retained the Chico Motlop Shield and bolstered their hopes of a top four finish as Litchfield won the top of the table clash. Catch up on the latest NRL NT action.
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The Nightcliff Dragons have retained their hold on the Chico Motlop Shield beating South Darwin to bolster their top four hopes, while Litchfield are clear on top of the table.
The annual shield match is important to both clubs, played in honour of its namesake who coached the Dragons to a premiership before playing an inspiring role when he moved to Souths.
The match holds particular significance for Chico’s grandson and Nightcliff captain Brenton Motlop who was named best on ground as his side won 44-26.
Souths, however, didn’t let it go easy with their leaders such as Kieren Crowe and Dustin Briscoe making big carries to put their side in position to have an impact on the contest.
But a fortunate bounce deep in their territory fell perfectly into the palms of Minny Finau who ran in for Nightcliff’s opening try.
The Dragons had the ascendancy from there with the hard running of Motlop, Kauri Westrupp and Laitham Shirely keeping the side on the front foot.
Emori Diqoniqere and Asiveli Rauga were benefactors on the scoring front, while playmaker Robbie Butcher managed to evade a tackler metres out to score under the posts.
They didn’t have it all their own way in the first half as Souths stretched their defence and were able to score on the outside through Kanae Gimini and Anthony Cross.
Despite their continued pressure into the second half the Dragons were able to resist and strike on the counter with Westrupp going over.
Jerome Motlop got his moment in the spotlight too in his grandfather’s game running a brilliant line off Butcher to give the Rabbitohs a real mountain to climb.
And though the Bunnies got some reward when Hayden Summers went crashing over their job was made more difficult when Moses Niki was sinbinned and Crowe went off injured.
Then Brenton Motlop lifted again with a bulldozing run to set up Emosi Vula, and Chad Booker-Prater went over not long after.
Though Ilalio Lutua got sent off for striking and compounding penalties gave Souths their chance with Poasa Qata getting back to back tries to put some respectability on the board.
Nightcliff had the score to win, but Souths grabbed their chance for some late excitement when a down field kick landed in Gimini’s hands and he raced to score on the siren.
“It’s really special, I really do appreciate Souths and Dragons coming together annually and putting on a show in my grandfather’s honour,” Motlop said.
“For me it’s an honour to captain this club that he had so much to do with and also to be the first in the family to take out the best on ground award, that’s something I will cherish forever.
“Then the win is great not only for me and the shield but for the club as a whole, we needed the win to get our season on track.”
Motlop said there were still things the side needed to work on, particularly in defence to take it to the top three of Litchfield, Palmerston and Brothers.
“We’re still working on things with changes each week and we played that second half a few men short having to grind it out,” Motlop said.
“Then we had a send-off, which makes you have to work harder on the defensive side of things so to grind it out is okay but we gave up some easy points and we need to work on that.
“We know we have the firepower to challenge the best and we believe we can, but we need to work to make it happen if we want to pinch wins off the top three sides.”
Meanwhile, the Litchfield Bears scored the final two tries to win 28-26 in their top of the table clash against the Darwin brothers, with Benjamin Mullins scoring twice.
Palmerston confirmed their spot among the top three heavyweights with a 40-0 thrashing of last year’s grand finalists Northern Sharks.
In the women’s competition the Brothers remain undefeated after their 30-0 defeat of Litchfield, which included two Jacinda Summers tries.
Nightcliff beat South Darwin 34-8 with Mere Rasaku scoring a brace while the Northern Sharks beat Palmerston 28-6 to further lock in second on the ladder.
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Originally published as Nightcliff Dragons retain Chico Motlop Shield against South Darwin Rabbitohs
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