Updates on all the action from Round 8 of the NSW Presidents Cup.
The Thirroul Butchers have got their season back on track with a 12-8 defeat of Dubbo CYMS at Apex Park this afternoon, despite missing a heap of players to injury including their captain Damian Sironen.
The home side opened the scoring in the seventh minute of the match when centre Jyie Chapman went over the line.
No more points were scored until right on the halftime buzzer Marcus Moore scored for the Butchers and Dane Francis converted to put the away side in front for the first time in the match.
CYMS got their way back into the contest through winger Jeremy Thurston to lead 8-6.
Big man Julian Flego was the hero of the day, scoring the match winner for the Butchers in the 66th minute and they managed to hold out the opposition until fulltime.
“We weren’t at our best so it was a good, gutsy win to hang in there and take opportunities when they presented themselves and just the fact that we needed to win to keep our finals hopes alive, so really pleased for the boys,” Thirroul coach Jarrod Costello said.
“We’re at the stage now where we need to make sure we’re winning so whether it’s a pretty win or not so pretty, we’ll take it.”
The away side were without NSW Origin representative Tim Grant, who will look to make a return next week but unfortunately it looks as though their skipper Sironen, Luke Dodge, Jack Nable and Mitch Lackersteen won’t make it back for the rest of the season.
“There were some really good performances from some of our younger guys and some of our local blokes like Connor Muhleisen, Ryan Fletcher, Jack Payne and Riley Lord, so really pleased,” Costello said.
Pickers prove their no.1 position
It was a game of first place verse second place on the NSW Presidents Cup ladder, and the Maitland Pickers proved why they own that number one spot in their 46-16 defeat over the North Sydney Bears.
Faitotoa Faitotoa set the scene for the intense dominance by the Pickers from the first whistle as he scored just one minute into play.
By the 11th minute, Maitland were up 16-0 thanks to an extra two tries scored by James Taylor and Chad O’Donnell, and two successful conversions by former Sydney Rooster Brock Lamb.
Bears centre Jordan Ah-One-Remfrey saw a gap in Maitlands defence and scored his sides first try for the day at the 13th minute mark but an influx of Maitland dominance was to soon follow.
Maitland second-rower Jacob McCudden snagged a double-try four minutes apart halfway through the first half and took his sides lead to 28-10.
At the end of the day, Bears managed to get three tries over-the-line, but Maitland were just too strong and put down eight of their own, paired with six successful conversions, that left the final score at a huge 46-16 defeat.
The Bears will look for redemption when they face the Western Suburbs next week and the Pickers will come up against Glebe Burwood Wolves in their last regular season game before elimination finals.
