North Sydney Bears 24 def Hills District Bulls 20
The North Sydney Bears have held off a fast-finishing Hills District Bulls outfit to prevail with a gritty 24-20 victory in a cracking Round 6 fixture at Crestwood Reserve on Sunday.
The Bears raced out to a seemingly comfortable 24-6 lead in the second-half before three unanswered tries from Hills District set up an enthralling finish, however, they were made to rue costly missed conversion attempts which ultimately proved the difference.
The Bears boasted a star-studded line-up with the likes fo Tom Freebairn, James Tuitahi and Josh Bergamin having plenty of Canterbury Cup NSW experience, while the Bulls had Zach Dockar-Clay and former NRL player Josh Lewis steering the side at five-eighth and hook respectively.
The win means North Sydney will now surpass Glebe Burwood Wolves and Western Suburbs Devils to second place on the competition ladder, after the duo played out an entertaining 18-all draw on Saturday.
Meanwhile, Maitland Pickers have asserted their dominance in the 2020 campaign with a 30-10 victory over Thirroul Butchers to claim their fifth consecutive victory and remain undefeated this season.
Western Suburbs Devils 18 drew with Glebe Burwood Wolves 18
Western Suburbs Devils and Glebe Burwood Wolves couldn’t be separated in an entertaining fixture at Sid Parrish Park this afternoon that ended in an 18-all draw.
Both teams had plenty of scoring opportunities and neither could capitalise but after sixteen minutes of play from the halfway line, the ball was spread wide by Wests and Mitch Porter got the ball away to winger Michael Applebee, who streaked down the far touch line to score the first points in the corner and take the home side to a 4-0 lead.
Eight minutes later, captain Porter took matters into his own hands on fifth tackle as he was weaved in and out of the defence and just as he looked to be falling to the ground in a tackle short of the try line, he offloaded the ball to a waiting Jackson Walsh to crash over the line.
Kurt Aldridge converted to take the home side to a 10-point lead and the away side was left scoreless.
Off the back of a penalty Glebe were on the attack and Liam Coleman bounced out of a tackle and managed to offload to Fijian International Sitiveni Moceidreke who put big man Kemueli Seru in a hole to score against some tired-looking defenders.
Moceidreke converted the goal to put the Wolves back in the contest.
Wests were awarded a penalty close to Glebe’s try line and with four minutes remaining in the first half, Aldridge opted to kick from in front of the uprights to give the Devils a six-point lead heading into the break.
The away side were the first to score in the second half after some scrambling defence from Wests and Duwanye Mariner used his size and strength close to the line to burrow over to score, with Moceidreke converting to level the scores 12-all.
The home side couldn’t get the ball out of their goal line off a Glebe kick and off the back of a drop out the Wolves passed it back to Seru, who was five metres out from the line and used some footwork to step a defender and crash over the try line to break the deadlock.
Despite the windy conditions, Moceidreke slotted a goal and put his side in front 18-12.
Porter came up with a huge play with a dummy, a big step and got down low to score in the far-left corner to put his side back in the contest and Aldridge converted to lock up the scores once more.
Both sides scrambled with under ten minutes remaining, with Aldridge having a go at the field goal and Glebe trying to do the same but it wasn’t to be and the scores stayed at 18-all at fulltime.
Other matches:
Wentworthville Magpies 24 def. Western Rams 6
Maitland Pickers 30 def. Thirroul Butchers 10
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