Jarrod Ryan
St Marys Saints have outclassed the Kaiviti Silktails 34-18 at St Marys Stadium to secure the inaugural Smith/Musunumasi Cup in celebration of St Marys chairman Warren Smith and the late Fiji National Rugby League chairman Peni Musunumasi.
Feigning a pass towards his halves on the fifth tackle, Saints hooker Trent Toelau secured the first points of the game and helped set up a 6-0 lead after he darted from behind the play-the-ball to catch out the Silktails try-line defence.
Five minutes later Toelau recreated his first try, again catching out the under-manned Kaiviti defensive line to score his second try of the evening to extend Saints lead to 12-0.
Whilst they were unable to capitalise on their scoring opportunities, the visitors looked dangerous with the ball as Sunia Naruma threatened to break the line every time he was involved in the play.
Capitalising on their field position, the Saints pushed their lead out to 18-0 after centre Geoff Daniela darted back inside to find the gap between his opposing edge defenders.
The Silktails finally found the try line with minutes to spare in the first half through fullback Ratu Jilivecevece as he turned around his opposing defenders after receiving the ball from a Ratu inoke Vasuturaga flick pass.
The Saints started the second half strong with Joe Tramontana and Raymond Lesoa combining twice within back-to-back sets for the latter to score his first try of the game.
Continuing to be active throughout every possession, Vasuturaga helped the Silktails with their first scoring opportunity of the second half as he chased down a Saints kick receiver, dislodging a loose ball in the tackle.
Benefiting from the field position, Silktails second rower Pio Seci muscled his way through the home team’s try-line defence to narrow the margin to 22-10.
St Marys did not back down and it wasn’t long before five-eighth Adam Fearnley linked up with Alexander Myles to create an overlap on their right side to send Matt Stimson over for his first of the game.
Minutes later, Stimson scored his second to extend Saints lead to 34-10 before the Silktails scored two late tries to put some respectability back into the scoreline.
The Silktails’ participation in the NSWRL’s Ron Massey Cup is proudly supported by the Australian Government through PacificAus Sports.
The NSWRL receives funding from the Australian Government through PacificAus Sports to support the Silktails’ participation in the NSWRL’s Ron Massey Cup.
