Dapto Canaries claimed a 46–18 win over De La Salle in Round 7 of the Harrigan Cup at Dapto Showground on Saturday afternoon.
Elsewhere, the Wests defeated Thirroul 20–10 on their home turf at Gibson Park, while Collegians returned to the winner’s list with a hard-fought 38–12 victory over Corrimal at Ziems Park
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Dapto Go Back-to-Back
Dapto is flying high after defeating De La Salle 46–18 at Dapto Showground, their first back-to-back win of the season, propelling them into third place on the ladder.
The Canaries jumped out of the gates early with four quick tries inside 30 minutes, including a hat-trick from Callum Leikvoll, to lead 22-0 before the visitors hit back with two tries just before the break to trail 22-12.
Dapto struck twice early again in the second half, with centre Jason Gillard picking up a double, to extend their lead to 34-12. Two further tries from Christopher Ravarua and Josh Daley sealed the win, with De La Salle scoring a late consolation try.
Halfback Troy Pieper also crossed for an early try and converted 7 from 8 attempts, showing strong form with the boot.
[Watch] Dapto’s Callum Leikvoll crashes over for one of his three tries.
Wests Get It Done In Grind
Wests ground out a solid 20–10 victory over the Thirroul Butchers at Thomas Gibson Park. The Devils led Thirroul 14-0 at halftime in an often fiery encounter in front of a large and vocal home crowd, scoring three first-half tries through wingers Colby Pellow (main picture), Jy Hitchcox, and fullback Lachlan Hurst.
The Butchers had the better of possession and field position early in the second stanza, but the Devil’s defence remained intact, holding the Butchers up over the line on several occasions.
Wests finally cracked in the 68th minute with Butchers centre Bryan Rutledge slicing through the Devils left edge defence to put his winger Zane Bijorac in the corner right in front of the Gibbo Park faithful.
Rutledge was at it again moments later, setting up his fullback Dane Courtney, who had loomed up in support. Mitchell Francis added the extras, bringing the hosts and the vocal home crowd right back into the contest at 14-10 with ten minutes remaining.
However, the experienced Tautau Moga thwarted Thirroul’s comeback, crashing over in in the 77th minute to seal victory for the defending premiers. Halfback Dane Chisholm added the two points to finish with two conversions from four attempts.
[Watch] Wests fullback Lachlan hurst scores after good lead-up work from halfback Dane Chisholm and second row Joey Dickson.
Collegians Bounce Back Win Over Cougars
Collegians returned to form with a hard-fought 38–12 win over the Corrimal Cougars at Ziems Park. Collegians scored five unanswered tries to set up a 26-0 lead over Corrimal, before Tom Carr scoring a converted try in the 39th minute for the hosts to trail 26-6 at the break.
The Cougars showed they were up for the fight, though, drawing first blood less than 10 minutes into the second half with Carr crossing for his second try of the match to reduce the margin to 26-12.
Determined to bounce back to the winner’s circle after ther Round 6 loss to Wests, Collies crossed in the 56th and 79th minute to close out the match. Halfback Blair Grant continued his good form with the boot, adding five conversions from seven attempts.
[Watch] Corrimal winger Tom Carr catches the Collies defence napping.
The Lower Grades
In Harrigan Plate action, Avondale Wombats defeated Helensburgh 22-10, Thirroul proved too strong for Collegians 26-10 and Wests defeated Corrimal 24-4.
Avondale Greyhounds continued their undefeated run in the Harrigan Shield competition with a 34-0 win over Wests Lowries, Figtree scored five tries to three in their 30-16 defeat of Norths, Berkeley scraped home 18-14 over the Cougars as did Avondale Wombats with an 18-16 victory over Windang.
Words | Angelina Raula