CTPE
Nev Cottrell (35)
Other than the Parra v Uni game as noted in my earlier post I watched Gordon v Eastwood, ACT v Manly, Hunter v Warringah, Hunter v Randwick and Gordon V West Harbour.
Eastwood despite going down 14-5 should have won given the amount of possession that they had, the penalties they received and the territory in which they had posession. Bottom line is that two Andrew Kellaway touches won it for Gordon.
I was very surprised that Eastwood started without Lucas Bateman at loose head but was introduced to his father after the game and was told that he hadn't trained all week after picking up a hip injury last weekend. He only came on late in the second half when the game was basically lost and copped a pretty ugly eye socket injury. That said the Eastwood pack started off on fire and had Gordon on the backfoot both in the scrums and at the breakdown. They had a couple of early opportunities out wide but were let down by the handling of their outside backs. They basically bombed two tries that would have given them a monumental leg up over what is a very good Gordon side.
Gordon spent most of the first half trying to get out of their own half. Kellaway was playing outside centre and only needed to be given one real opportunity to display his class resulting in a long range try against the run of play which he converted from out wide. Eastwood down 0-7 responded superbly through relentless forward play and got back to 5-7 at the break with a great try to Robert Black. Eastwood again dominated possession and territory in the second half but a bit more Kellaway magic saw Gordon increase their lead to 14-5. The Gordon forwards lifted towards the end of the game ensuring a first game win.
ACT won very comfortably over Manly after Manly scored first. They have a well drilled team but their backs don't seem to have the strike power necessary to take advantage of the opportunities delivered to them from a very good forward pack.
Hunter v Warringah was a very physical game with one yellow and one red card. Warringah started off very well and looked like they were set for a comfortable win but Hunter to their credit fought back well late in the second half to win a very absorbing contest. Hunter also knocked off Randwick in one of the later games.
To the pools it looks like Parra and Gordon will go forward from pool A.
Dark horse is Central Coast who I'm told had two good wins over Wests and Southern Districts matching the two wins by Parra and Gordon. They play Eastwood in their third game tomorrow whilst Gordon play Southern Districts and Parra have a bye. If Central Coast can knock off Eastwood it will come down to for and against to decide the two teams who go forward.
Norths will go forward from pool B with Hunter looking likely to also go forward after their two wins today. Norths play Manly tomorrow morning whilst Hunter play Central West and both should win their games.
Likley last four being Parra, Gordon, Norths and Hunter.
I think that the final will likely be a repeat of last year's final with Parra defending their title against Norths. Alternatively it will be a Parra v Gordon final with the Parra forwards dominating Gordon's pack and starving their backs ( = Kellaway) of quality ball.
Players who stood out:
Forwards: Afele (Parra), McInerney (ACT), Black (Eastwood), Kamp (Gordon), Hefren (Hunter), Taiki (Parra), Taweel (Wests), Welch (Gordon),
Backs: Kellaway (Gordon), Angeloni (Parra), Clark (Parra), Vianellos (Eastwood), Jones (Warringah), Carter (Hunter),
