In case you missed it: the Warringah Rats have taken out the Shute Shield Premiership after defeating Norths 30-25 in front of a packed crowd at North Sydney Oval on Saturday afternoon.
The lead was taken six times by both the Shoremen and Warringah combined in a title match that has been in the woodworks a long time for the Rats, halfback Josh Holmes said to rugby.com.au.
“It’s amazing, it’s unbelievable – I’m speechless,” he said. “The club’s been through a lot this year, we’ve been trying to get one for a long time but we’ve finally done it.”
Premiership-winning skipper Hamish Angus was over the moon to say the least in the wake of his side’s victory in the final.
“We really galvanised as a group, the way our defence and rucking went in that last 20 minutes was really impressive,” said Angus. “It’s such a buzz.”
Norths pivot Angus Sinclair opened up the scoring after a successful second attempt at goal from right in front.
Rats enforcer Rory O’Connor showed incredible mobility and power in scorer the first try of the match after barging his way over the line just left of the uprights.
While Angus Sinclair’s boots won the Shoremen’s lead back, it was a bullocking Sam Ward who found the line for the Rats when they needed it most.
After Warringah openside Tom Connor was shown the sideline for repeated ruck infringements, Norths scored their first five-pointer through prop Ezra Luxton to close the half 13-12 victors.
Rats skipper Hamish Angus got us underway in the second 40, his boot adding three points to pinch the lead once again from Norths before Harry Jones finished a brilliant Warringah team try to push their lead to 20-13.
Norths managed to equalize when Hugh Sinclair drew in a handful of defenders to offload to teammate Conor Vest for a converted try.
Man-of-the-match winner Harry Jones scored his second for the afternoon through his own devices, recovering a grubber kick before swan diving his way over the line.
At 27-20, Shoreman winger Lachlan Creagh was gifted with an open corner and used his speed to capitalize on an opportunity to close the gap. However, a missed conversion left them two points shy of the Rats.
Englishman Myles Dorrian delivered the nail in the coffin through a penalty conversion, leaving the side from Warringah as Shute Shield Premiers for 2017.
SCORES:
Warringah 30 (H Jones 2 S Ward 1 R O’Connor 1 tries H Angus 2 goals pen goal M Dorrian pen goal) bt Northern Suburbs 25 (E Luxton 1 C Vest 1 L Creagh 1 tries A Sinclair 2 goals 2 pen goals) at North Sydney Oval
1st Grade wasn’t Warringah’s only title for the day, with 3rd Grade taking out the Henderson Shield 41-17 over local rivals, Manly.
2ND GRADE - COLIN CAIRD SHIELD: Sydney University 51 (H Clunies-Ross 2 J Kane 2 M Dowsett 1 D Moore 1 J McCalman 1 H Potter 1 tries J Kane 4 goals pen goal) bt Eastwood 14 (S Fangia 1 S Tangi 1 tries J Bird 2 goals) at North Sydney Oval.
3RD GRADE - HENDERSON SHIELD: Warringah 41 (J Fowles 2 P Curtin 1 J Loseli 1 H Suters 1 tries L Anderson 5 goals 2 pen goals) bt Manly 17 (P Squires 1 F Toohey 1 tries B Rubio 2 goals pen goal) at North Sydney Oval.
4TH GRADE - HENDERSON CUP: Sydney University 17 (B Stanton 1 W Tuitupou 1 tries S STUMBLES 2 goals pen goal) bt Northern Suburbs 14 (H Adams 1 tries J Jenkins 2 pen goals K Truijens pen goal) at North Sydney Oval.
COLTS
The following day saw the Colts in action at Concord Oval, with the Students putting up three teams across all three Colts Grades. While Sydney Uni won two, the Galloping Greens took out the Bill Simpson Shield in 3rd Grade.
COLTS 1 - W.MCMAHON MEMORIAL SHIELD: Sydney University 63 (H Johnson-Holmes 2 J Armstrong 2 N Tamwoy 1 T Clements 1 E King 1 T Horton 1 R Rotuisolia 1 R Suttor 1 M Tuinakauvadra 1 tries D Poletto 4 goals) bt Eastern Suburbs 15 at Concord Oval.
COLTS 2 - SHELL TROPHY: Sydney University 27 (M Basson 2 T Leaver 1 tries J Schwager 3 goals 2 pen goals) bt Eastern Suburbs 10 (H Todd 1 F Studdy 1 tries) at Concord Oval.
COLTS 3 - BILL SIMPSON SHIELD: Randwick 29 (J Yoannidis 2 J Macaskill 1 M Rivers 1 C Gleave 1 tries D Chipizubov 2 goals) bt Sydney University 12 (S Malifa 1 S Lawther 1 tries W Wennerbom goal) at Concord Oval.
