Wests Magpies Sydney Shield and Ron Masey Cup teams both suffered losses in the final round of the regular season against St Marys last weekend.
SYDNEY SHIELD
Wests’ Sydney Shield season ended with a gallant performance in a 28-26 defeat against St Marys.
A grinding first ten minutes saw neither side lay any real platform until St Marys took advantage of a dropped bomb from Wests with Ryan Jeffery crashing over after a powerful run.
Wests responded ten minutes later, with Paul Roberts throwing two good passes flat and short, the first seeing Wests go achingly close before Pio Sofa crashed over on the ensuing play, Jack Pearce putting the Magpies ahead from in front.
The home side extended their lead after St Marys went down to 12 men for repeated infringements, some hot potato seeing an exquisite flick pass from Kelsey Coakes go on to Jarden Sajnovic with the centre showing too much strength for the cover defence.
St Marys adopted Wests’ attitude of expansive football and we rewarded seven minutes in front of halftime, with Jared Canon finding a gap under the uprights as the Magpies failed to properly shuffle on their own line, Jonah Meuanargo levelling the scores from straight in front.
St Marys retook the lead from the restart, a neat break up the middle allowing Jonah Metuanargo to go over out wide despite some strong chasing efforts from Wests, Kyle Smith blowing the halftime score out for the away side to 18-10 with a try which saw St Marys go back to back to back, the halftime tally flattering the visitors.
Both sides had some quality chances to register first points in the second half, but it was Kyle Smith who finally found the line after a neat bat on from the visitors, with Jonah Metuanargo continuing his horror day with the boot to leave Wests with a sniff with 25 minutes remaining.
The Magpies found the scent five minutes later, a wonky crossfield kick from Paul Roberts batted back by Jack Pearce, Apaola Tea Lama finding the line out wide, the Saints hitting back quickly as Jamon Wormleaton cleaned up some sloppy, adlib football on the last to beat the cover to the line.
Wests continued to fight though, Paul Roberts getting a room service bounce off his own chip kick to touch down under the uprights 11 minutes before time, George Nasilai crashing over under the uprights to make it a two point margin in favour of the visitors with four minutes on the clock.
Wests went agonisingly close on three occasions in the final two minutes but their efforts were repelled by a desperate St Marys, the Magpies’ season ending with a brave performance.
ST MARYS 28 (Kyle Smith 2, Ryan Jeffery, Jared Canon, Jonah Metuanargo, Jamon Wormleaton tries; Jonah Metuanargo 2 from 6) defeated WESTERN SUBURBS 26 (Pio Sofa, Jarden Sajnovic, Apaola Tea Lama, Paul Roberts, George Nasilai tries; Jack Pearce 3 from 5)
WESTERN SUBURBS
3 Philip Brombal
2 Apaola Tea Lama
18 Jack Pearce
15 Jarden Sajnovic
5 Niall Walker
6 Damien Doan
14 Kelsey Coakes
16 Alatanu Wright
9 Paul Roberts
10 Tom Grealy
11 Kurt Atkinson
21 Pio Sofa
13 George Nasilai
22 Hayden Williams
23 Henry Swann
24 Ryan Cane
RON MASSEY CUP
With the minor premiership being wrapped up by Mounties earlier in the day, Western Suburbs went down to St Marys 38-24 at Concord Oval.
St Marys opened the scoring after nine minutes courtesy of a booming 40-20 from halfback Adrian Davis, Tom Eisenhuth put into a gap two tackles after the restart by that man Davis, who struck the upright with the conversion attempt.
Geoff Daniela added to the margin four minutes later after a right side shift saw Wests unable to number up having had to compress after St Marys made some easy metres through the ruck, Jamie Hill scoring St Marys’ third in the 22nd minute to leave Wests searching for answers after being blown away in the opening quarter.
St Marys notched their fourth try in the 27th minute through Peter Scanlan after a cut out ball wide from Adrian Davis, Wests finally getting over the line in the 32nd minute after a short ball from Tom Morrison saw Hala Masila crash over.
Wests went back to back, Shannon Gallant batting down Blake Cavallaro’s bomb for David Harris to put Luke Williams over alongside the uprights which reduced the halftime deficit to eight points.
Wests needed to be first on the board in the second half, but it was the visitors who struck as a banana kick was spilt by Shannon Gallant, allowing Jamie Hill to grab his second of the day.
The Magpies found their way back into the game in the 54th minute, Jai Doolan exchanging passes with Shannon Gallant before putting Jay Bonnell over, with Bonnell showing great strength to force his way over through three defenders.
It was game on with 20 minutes remaining with both Jay Bonnell and Blake Cavallaro going close before Dayne Craig burrowed over on the last tackle, but St Marys hit back with a right shift on the last tackle with Geoff Daniela putting Alan Eisenhuth over to put the margin back to eight points with 11 minutes to play.
St Marys sealed the result with three minutes remaining, Sam Jones dummying through the line to put the game to bed and confirm St Marys aren’t just making up the numbers in this year’s title race.
WESTERN SUBURBS 24 (Hala Masila, Luke Williams, Jay Bonnell, Dayne Craig tries; Shannon Gallant 4 from 4)
ST MARYS 38 (Jamie Hill 2, Tom Eisenhuth, Geoff Daniela, Peter Scanlan, Alan Eisenhuth, Sam Jones tries; Adrian Davis 5 from 7)
WESTERN SUBURBS
1 Shannon Gallant
2 John Tohi
12 Josh Davis
4 Tala Mapesone
5 Thomas Capper
6 Jay Bonnell
7 Blake Cavallaro
15 Daniel Rakvin
9 Dayne Craig
21 Hala Masila
11 David Harris
3 Inno Inosesio
13 Tom Morrison
14 Luke Williams
16 James Mirceski
23 Heheako Tuima
24 Jai Doolan
