The guts of the Shute Shield ladder is as congested as we’ve seen in recent times as the competition heads into the middle portion of the season.
Find out the latest from the coaches ahead of round eight this weekend.
Parramatta v West Harbour
Parramatta gave Norths a scare at home last week and led 13-11 at half time against last year’s grand finalists before falling away after the break.
“The first half was our best rugby of the season,” Two Blues assistant coach Riley Carter told Rugby News.
“We controlled possession and were able to put Norths under lots of pressure. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to carry that into the second half, hence the result.”
Carter said his side needed to be more consistent and play for 80 minutes if they are to beat West Harbour this weekend, as they did in the correspodning fixture last year.
“West harbour is always one of the biggest games of the year for us,” he said.
“They control possession well in attack and like most good teams live off fast ruck speed. We need to slow that down and we’ve been working on that this week.”
West Harbour confirmed they are genuine contenders this year with a three point victory over Eastwood at TG Millner, a feat very few sides have achieved in the last few years.
Despite that, Pirates coach Todd Louden isn’t getting too far ahead of himself.
“We took confidence from a number of elements that we have been working on. We can see it starting to come together and that the hard work is paying off. But we also realise we still have a lot to work on and are far from the finished product. And that’s exciting,” he said.
While West Harbour will start as short favourites in the western Sydney derby, Louden said he was wary of a Two Blues side with little to lose.
“We rate Parramatta, they’re also a team on the improve and we still need to get better in all parts of our game from week to week. The competition is so tight, you can’t have a poor attitude or a lazy game anytime.”
Sydney Uni v Southern Districts
Sydney Uni scored 14 unanswered second half points to claim a hard fought 27-19 win over Easts at Woollahra last weekend and maintain top spot on the ladder.
“It wasn’t a great spectacle for the spectators but it was a good old fashioned battle. One for the rugby purist,” a relieved Rob Taylor told Rugby News.
With just one loss to their name in 2018, Uni have the best attacking and defensive record in the competition and Taylor’s young side now knows how to close out tight matches.
Paddy Ryan and Brad Wilkin have both been called into the Waratahs squad and will miss Saturday’s clash against Southern Districts, who Taylor expects will bring their best to University Oval.
“Souths have a quality set piece, some aggressive ball carriers and a number of their backs have accurate kicking games.”
Souths claimed back to back wins for the first time this year after beating Gordon at home last week and are suddenly back within striking range of the top three after a slow start to the season.
Apo Latunipulu and Alex Perez will miss the clash against the Students and have been replaced in first grade by local juniors Albert Hemopo and Angus McGrath, while former Scottish U20s No.10 Ben Chalmers will start for the Rebels for the second straight week.
“Ben is a very smart and skilful footballer. He offers a lot to our organisation and game management,” Souths coach Matt Barr said.
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