With talk they may return to the NSW Cup next year, Western Suburbs ended a seven week winless run in the Sydney Shield by outlasting Blacktown 30-24 at Campbelltown Sports Ground on Saturday.
Blacktown were first to score with their opener coming after five and a half minutes as the Sea Eagles took advantage of a Kieran Wyld break from inside their own half to put Antonio Soni over in the corner after Wests’ line had failed to scramble properly in cover.
Wests needed just five minutes to return fire as Blake Higgins’ pass to a second man Jamin Williams saw Williams hit a gaping hole perfectly to bring the Magpies to within two.
Ioane Ioane put Blacktown out by eight after 16 minutes as Cameron Davis strolled through some paper-thin Magpie defence.
A fortuitous stripping penalty to Wests allowed the Magpies to post their second try in the 26th minute, another second man play orchestrated by Blake Higgins seeing Oscar Tui crash his way over despite the attention of the cover defence.
Seven minutes from the interval Roderigues Ceasar touched down for his second of the season, but Blacktown regained the lead seconds in front of the siren.
Blacktown were able to pick up where they left off in the first half courtesy of a Wests error in retrieving a last tackle kick, Cameron Davis eventually forcing his way over after a set where all but one tackle was devoted to trying to barge and wrestle over the Wests line.
Wests didn’t take long to return fire though as Jack Mitchell crashed over in the 47th minute after sustained Wests pressure and Jamin Williams tied proceedings with 15 minutes remaining with a jinking, stepping effort which caught Blacktown off guard close to their own line.
If Jamin Williams showed some neat footwork to draw Wests level then Ben Powers’ effort was just as good to put Wests ahead 30-24, the final score on the board.
♦ The Magpies piled on five tries in a first half demolition to hammer Blacktown 40-4 in the Ron Massey Cup encounter at Campbelltown.
After dominating the opening 11 minutes Wests found success off a last tackle kick from Brendan Waters, Veiru Mapesone collecting the ball off the upright to touch down and add the extras himself for an early 6-0 advantage.
The Mapesone brothers combined seven minutes later after Brendan Waters sent Mason Farrell through a gap with Tala touching down to extend the home side’s lead to 10, a Sea Eagles error allowing the Mapesone boys to again combine for a 50 metre charge before Jerry Key touched down under the sticks a quarter hour before the bell for a 16-0 lead.
Wests were finding plenty of space in the Blacktown defence, and a Mason Farrell break in the 33rd minute saw Luke Williams back up to put Veiru Mapesone away for his second, Luke Williams dummying his way over from acting half less than a minute from the interval to send Wests to the sheds up by a massive 28-0.
Blacktown finally cracked the Wests line in the 55th minute as some quick passing saw Wests unable to shuffle in time to stop Shaun Fitzgerald going over untouched.
Josiah Tamasi responded for Wests in the 65th minute as Brendan Waters put him over off a nice short ball off a scrum win to sign off on an emphatic 40-4 win.
