Rockingham Sharks 10 – North Beach Sea Eagles 32
By PETER ROWE
Former union player Nick Prance was the shining light for the Sea Eagles in their Fuel to Go and Play Premiership clash at Rockingham on Saturday afternoon, leading his side to a comprehensive victory over the Sharks.
There were errors galore on both sides in a tense first half, but the visitors were the better at overcoming theirs with centre Tama Mareta the first to score after six minutes, off an intercept that took them from defence to attack and 60 metres up the field.
Seven minutes later Prance was on the board, running through a hole to put the ball down to the right of the posts. Moreta added another on the half hour as the Sea Eagles took control of the game.
The Sharks had chances but errors let them down, something coach Reece Potter conceded after the game.
“Just too many errors and we only completed I think five of 14 sets. It just wasn’t good enough,” he said.
The Beach defence held firm to deny the home side a number of times before centre Vili Tiomai eventually found the whitewash in the 37th minute before Prance kicked a penalty on the siren to increase the lead.
Jarrad Whitty doubled the Sharks score three minutes into the second half before being sinbinned for an offside offence and the Sea Eagles took advantage, adding another thanks to centre Kian Sauss, who leapt to take a high ball to score.
Fullback Te Ra Ahuri added another four pointer before tall winger Riley Bradley jumped to take a super cross-field kick for the try of the day.
“We played well,” coach Marty Collis said. “We defended well in the first half and limited Rockingham to just one try. When we made errors we quickly recovered, which pleased me.
“We controlled the ruck and found space to score. Nick had a great game. He came off the bench last week and really took his chance this weekend.
“Tama (Moreta) was also outstanding, as was Tommy Welsh and fullback Te Ra Ahuri.”
For Sharks coach Potter it was a disappointing day after the win at Kalamunda in Round 12.
“We can’t get any consistency going week to week,” he said. “There weren’t too many positives out there.”