By PETER ROWE
North Beach Sea Eagles retained the BlueForce Cup against old rivals South Perth on Saturday afternoon, but were made to fight for the points against a well organised side, before emerging 36-24 winners in Round 16 of the Fuel to Go and Play Premiership.
The Sea Eagles scored twice early to take control of the game, thanks to a try from back rower Roydon Gillett and 60 metre run from exciting young halfback Darius Rogers.
The ever alert Rogers grabbed the ball after Lions’ forward Tim Noble had blocked a kick to race upfield as the home side looked to cement their second place on the ladder with the finals looming.
But despite already missing out on the playoffs this season, the Lions showed they still have plenty to offer the competition as centre Corban Daniels crossed after a strip and clever build-up play to begin a periods of pressure that then saw hooker Oisin Keating run from dummy half from about eight metres out to score again.
“They were impressive,” North Beach coach Phil Douche said of his opponents. “ (Samisoni) Langi was roaming both sides and organising them and they looked dangerous.
Photo – Karmel Potter-Green
“But we knew we had to keep at him and he would tire.”
The softness of the Keating try awoke the North Beach side and within four minutes centre Jess Rafferty added to his impressive tally this season with another try after Rogers had intercepted and set up the drive that saw fullback Corey Craig almost reach the try line before sending a bootlace pass to Rafferty to cross.
And minutes later forward Tom Fry found the whitewash, latching on to a clever chip and chase to score another – but South Perth were not done, as winger Karri Wiringi was the recipient of a well-constructed move from halfback Samisoni Langi to close the gap to ten points at the break.
Beach were controlling the game, but South Perth kept coming back, causing problems with Langi again orchestrating play. Beach though are finals bound and their combinations are a danger to any side and early in the second half they wrestled back control as hooker Drew Lloyd pushed the margin back out to 14 points before Langi scored on the left edge, a classy show and go that caught the Beach defence asleep.
But the ten-point margin was just too much for the visitors as the home stepped up a gear again with Tyler Moeau finding a big hole from 10 metres out to ensure the points and the BlueForce Cup stayed north of the river.
Photo – Karmel Potter-Green
Ethan Gourgaud added a consolation eleven minutes from time as the Lions’ brave effort came to an end.
For Douche it was a pleasing performance before they face Fremantle next week in what looks like a finals rehearsal, with the coach hoping to get two or three players back from injury.
“We were a bit light in the middles and Tom Fry played the full 80 minutes and I think we looked a bit loose around the edges, but that will improve,” he said.
South Perth team manager Paul Brown was pleased with his side’s first half performance, “80-85 per cent completion rate,” he said.
“But we fell away a bit in the second half against a very good Beach side.
“It became a game of catch up in the end but there were some positives. Soni played really well in that first half and controlled the game and Ethan Gourgaud was our players’ player of the match.
“Timmy Noble was solid in the forwards, as was Blair (Young) and Smithy (lock Jarrad Smith).
Rockingham Sharks put behind them the results of the past few weeks with a solid 54-18 win over the Joondalup Giants, scoring six second half tries to secure third spot on the ladder.
But it wasn’t all one-way – they led 18-12 at the break before the Giants levelled it up eight minutes into the second half through Joel Irvine – then the floodgates opened.
A first half battle saw halfback John McLaughlin open the scoring for the Sharks after eight minutes before a Gus Marshall kick into goal was missed by a grasping defence to allow winger Kingston Niwa-Siolo to score.
Brandon White added the first of a personal double on the day nine minutes later to retake the lead and young winger Tom Leeder, who only made his first grade debut for the club last weekend, scored his first senior try for the club, running through a sea of players to score a great opportunist try.
The Sharks pushed again – but pushed too far two minutes later when centre Mitch Haggard intercepted a long pass out to the left to race 80 metres to score as the Giants looked to stay in the game.
A penalty three minutes from the halftime siren for a voluntary tackle saw Keelyn Tuuta-Edwards slot another two points to give the home side a six-point lead, which was quickly lost early in the second period.
Photo – Libby McMillan
At that point the game could have gone either way, but a series of errors from the visitors allowed the Sharks to dominate. White grabbed his second – receiving a long pass form Tom Murphy to find a big hole on the left edge to cross – before lively hooker Derek Chizuni burrowed his way across from a metre out to extend the lead.
Zac McEntyre added another on the hour and Chizuni made it a double nine minutes later with another cheeky short dive for the line.
Unable to stop the Rockingham flow, the Giants struggled in defence and another swift shift saw the ball in Kurt De Amyand’s hands down the right edge 35 metres out – an opportunity the young winger gleefully accepted.
McEntyre finished the scoring for the day three minutes from time with Tuuta-Edwards kicking eight conversions and a penalty for an 18-point haul.
A tough day for coach Darren Smith. “We stuck to our plan in the first half but it was a tough second half period for sure.
“Too many errors cost us. And we have so many FIFO boys – 20 across our three senior teams – so it’s hard to get some consistency in training.”
On the field veteran Taurean Sheehan saw the same. “Yeah, lots of errors in that second half, but fair play to Rockingham they used the ball really well, exploited our left edge and when they were defending they had three players in the tackle – we only had two and that made a difference,” he said.
“We were missing a few players, but it is what it is. We will have players back for finals.”
Sharks coach Tom Murphy was pleased to get back to winning ways, calling the result a “good team effort”.
“When we hold the ball we can challenge any team and Derek (Chizuni) and Zac (McEntyre) both had great games,” Murphy said.
‘We got good field position in the second half and capitalised on their errors and the hard work paid off.”
Photo – Libby McMillan