Rockingham Sharks 10 – Ellenbrook Rabbitohs 38
By PETER ROWE
After weeks of coming close the Ellenbrook Rabbitohs grabbed their first win of the year at Port Kennedy putting the Rockingham Sharks to the sword in the first half of their Round 5 Fuel to Go & Play Premiership clash.
The Bunnies controlled the ruck and had most of the ball against a stuttering Sharks side to lead 28-0 at the break.
Tries from wingers Quinn White (2), Wayne Barba Raymond, backrower Sioeli Vaituulala and Trent Newman saw them coasting at the break before the home side started their fightback.
Lock Brody Gilchrist was first to respond two minutes into the second period but the comeback didn’t last as the visitors capitalised on more errors to score again through prop Riapo Jones.
Backrower Terrence Ramekas added a second try for the Sharks as they fought tot stay in the contest but another score from Vaituulala and late in the game second from Barba Raymond sealed victory.
Rabbitohs assistant coach Nick Rolle was very pleased with the effort, but knew the second half would be a test.
“I knew Rockingham would not go away and they didn’t. We weathered the storm and scored again to keep control of the game.
“The win comes on the back of some good performances and we’ve been slowly building to this. A solid 60 minutes. We focussed on our marker work and line speed and it paid off.
Prop Jakarta Joyce was their MVP. “He was awesome, played prop, had a break and then cam back as lock,” Rolle said.
Centre Trent Newman was also outstanding, as was double try scorer Sioeli Vaituulala.
For Sharks coach Reece Potter it was a disappointing day after the thrill of winning at North Beach in Round 4.
“We were too complacent,” Potter said. “Massive we thought after last week this was going to be easy – and it wasn’t. Ellenbrook wanted it more and by the time we responded the game was already gone.
“We have to learn there are no easy games in this competition. They dominated the middle and the ruck and caused us lots of problems. We have to find some consistency in our performances.”
With the bye next week, Potter plans to get back to defensive basics in training.
“There were over 25 penalties in the game, which doesn’t help, but we have a lot of hard work to do. Too many errors and defence has to turn up. We are better than this but we have just have to respond.”
The victory closes the gap below third with the Rabbitohs moving to four points with Rockingham and Joondalup jumping into fifth, a point behind Kalamunda, with five.
“It’s a real open competition from fourth down,” Rolle added.