Owls Move into Second with Asquith Upset
The Guildford Owls moved into second place on the Ron Massey Cup table by defeating the previously-unbeaten Asquith Magpies 26-16 in a fiery match of the round at McCredie Park on Sunday.
In a tough contest, the Owls opened the scoring with Daniel Lotu's first try in the 14th minute for a 6-0 lead with Josh Camroux's conversion, before opposing winger Sean Sabutey replied with Asquith's first seven minutes later.
After Lotu bagged his second try in the 28th minute for a 12-4 lead, the match reached its boiling point when two Asquith players were sin-binned by referee Tim Hannon.
First, Asquith hooker Jake Attard was sin-binned in the 28th minute.
Then in bizarre circumstances, second-rower Kurt Horton was the second player sin-binned. After scoring Asquith's second try eight minutes from half-time, Horton took exception to the Guildford cover defence and started a melee, earning him time on the sidelines.
Asquith held on with their 11 men to not concede any further points and be down 12-8 at the break, but the extra workload in defence caught up with the Magpies as Guildford upped the ante in attack in the second half to break the game open.
Two brilliant tries from winger Cameron Eyles in the 50th and 57th minutes blew the Owls' lead to 22-8 after Camroux converted Eyles' second try, before Lotu completed his hat-trick in the corner with 15 minutes left to seal the Owls' victory.
Asquith, despite losing their unbeaten record, had the last word when fullback Amanaki Veamatahau bagged two late consolation tries. Backing up from scoring the match-levelling try for North Sydney in the Frank Hyde Shield Intrust Super Premiership match 24 hours earlier, Veamatahau completed the final 26-16 scoreline.
Wolves send Bulls Packing
The Glebe-Burwood Wolves were left as the only unbeaten team after five rounds when they easily disposed of Hills District Bulls 38-4 at Henson Park on Saturday.
The Wolves made the most of their first home game at the famous inner-western Sydney venue when centre Lachlan Stein scored the first two tries of the match for a 10-0 lead after just 10 minutes. The home side then extended their lead to 14-0 after 20 minutes when centre partner Tyla Tamou crossed for their third.
A flare-up seven minutes from half-time saw Bulls fullback Tom Perrin and Wolves back-rower Ryan King sin-binned by referee James Vella - then from the penalty set that followed, Wolves winger Jordan Topai-Aveai scored to give Glebe-Burwood an 18-0 half-time lead.
The Wolves went on with the job in the second half after Perrin and King returned from the sin-bin. Quick tries to fullback Latrell Schaumkel and powerhouse winger Charlton Schaafhausen in the first 10 minutes of the second half killed off any chance of a Bulls comeback.
Wide-running back-rower Dave Baumann got the Bulls' only points with his try in the 65th minute, before Stein completed his hat-trick and Malakai Houma scored the Wolves' final try to close out the 38-4 win.
Sea Eagles See off Two Blues
The Blacktown Workers Sea Eagles kept in touch with the Ron Massey Cup top four when they held off a fast-finishing Cabramatta Two Blues, winning 32-30 at New Era Stadium.
Blacktown got going early with tries to five-eighth Veiru Mapesone and returning Intrust Super Premiership fullback Honeti Tuha for a 10-0 lead after 10 minutes.
Cabramatta centre Shane Kiel replied with the Two Blues' first try in the 13th minute to get the home side on the board, before Blacktown took control of the match.
Half Kamren Cryer scored his try in the 23rd minute, and Tuha completed his double with 10 minutes left in the first half to give the Sea Eagles a handsome 22-6 lead at the break.
Tuha completed his hat-trick five minutes into the second half to extend the lead to 28-6, before Cabramatta launched their second-half comeback.
Two Blues five-eighth D'hrys Miller bagged two tries to cut the lead back to 28-18, before Tuha completed an eventful afternoon when he was sin-binned in the 67th minute.
Blacktown winger James Tuitahi scored what turned out to be the critical winning try in the corner with 10 minutes to play while Tuha was in the sin-bin to give the Workers Sea Eagles a 32-18 lead.
Cabramatta came home with two converted tries in the last four minutes – from back-rower Jesse Martin in his first game since transferring from Asquith midweek and winger Tala Mapesone – with time running out before the Two Blues had a chance to pull off a miracle win.
Wests Shock Saints at Home
The Western Suburbs Magpies pulled off the surprise of the round with a grinding 20-6 win over the St Marys Saints at St Marys Leagues Stadium.
In what turned out to be an 80-minute arm wrestle, both sides could not crack the other's defensive line for nearly the whole first half before Western Suburbs hooker Luke Williams scored with two minutes left in the half. With Kurt Aldridge's conversion, it left the Magpies with a 6-0 half-time lead.
Aldridge landed a penalty goal 10 minutes into the second half to extend the lead to 8-0, before Saints hooker Peter Nay scored from the home side's next attack three minutes later to cut the Magpies lead back to 8-6.
Serbian international prop James Mirceski scored the critical try from close range midway through the second half, before former Ron Massey Cup player of the year Brendan Waters sealed the Magpies' win with his try two minutes from time.
Mounties Breeze Past Brothers
Finally, Mounties consolidated their place in the Ron Massey Cup top four with a hard-fought 28-12 win over newcomers Penrith Brothers at Aubrey Keech Reserve.
It appeared that Mounties would win easily after early tries to Josh Saunders-Jones and Jordan Martin gave the side a 12-point after as many minutes.
Brothers steadied to hold out in defence and then came back with half Arthur Crichton's clever try to pull scores back to 12-6, before experienced bench player Willie Mataka scored for Mounties right on half-time to give Mounties an 18-6 lead at the break.
Mounties then put the match beyond doubt with tries from winger Alofi Mataele and centre Tony Satini to lead 28-6 midway through the second half.
Penrith again held out Mounties and stopped a blowout with good defence in the last 20 minutes, and were rewarded when winger Geofrey Duku scored the last try to complete the 28-12 score line.
Wentworthville enjoyed the bye.
Glebe-Burwood are the only unbeaten team on 10 points after five rounds, with Guildford now in second spot two points behind on eight. Mounties and Asquith are next on seven, and St Marys falling to eighth spot after their second-straight loss on four points.
Brothers and the Bulls are at the foot of the table on two points each.
The Mother's Day weekend sees three games on Saturday and two matches on Sunday in Round 6 – with the Mounties' clash with Wentworthville at Aubrey Keech Reserve on Saturday and Blacktown's meeting with Guildford on Sunday the picks of the Round.
Tony and HHH FM cover the Ron Massey Cup and the Sydney Shield each weekend – with a massive program of coverage this Mother's Day weekend.
First, the team are back at Storey Park on Saturday for the matchups between the Asquith Magpies and Penrith Brothers in the Sydney Shield (2pm) and Ron Massey Cup (4pm) on 100.1FM, or via streaming at www.triplehfm.com.au
Then, the team back up on Sunday with coverage from HE Laybutt Fields, broadcasting the Ron Massey Cup match between Blacktown Workers Sea Eagles and Guildford Owls at 1pm and the Intrust Super Premiership meeting between Blacktown and the Newcastle Knights from 3pm.
