Magpies advance to Harold Matthews final four

It was a mixed Saturday for Wests Tigers junior representative teams with the Western Suburbs Magpies advancing to the Harold Matthews semi-finals, while the Wests Tigers Tarsha Gale Cup team were eliminated with a loss to St George Dragons. 

Harold Matthews

Western Suburbs Magpies 18 def. Central Coast Roosters 16

Western Suburbs Magpies have progressed to the final four of the Harold Matthews competition after recording a thrilling 18-16 win over Central Coast Roosters at HE Laybutt Field.

Trailing by four points with five minutes remaining in the game, Heath Mason scored a late try and Tajh Colquhoun converted it to keep the Magpies’ season alive, while eliminating the Roosters from the competition.

It took just one minute for versatile young gun Solomone Saukuru to score the game’s opening try for the Magpies before Mason Stottelaar scored to reduce Central Coast’s deficit to 6-4 at the break.

Rooster Robert Toia was the first to score in the second half but William Craig hit back for Western Suburbs.

When Benaiah Ioelu scored for the Roosters with 11 minutes remaining, the Magpies had to fin d another gear — in which they did through a late try to Mason.

The Magpies will now move on to the semi-finals next weekend for a place in the decider.

Tarsha Gale Cup

St George Dragons 30 def. Wests Tigers 8

Wests Tigers’ run in the Tarsha Gale Cup came to an end on Saturday with a 30-8 loss to St George Dragons at HE Laybutt Field.

The Dragons scored six tries to two to advance to the final four of the competition.

Following a tense first half — in which the Dragons led 8-4 at the break — Wests Tigers weren’t able to keep up with their opponents in the final 30 minutes.

Shelby Mui and Jayme Willingham managed to score for Wests Tigers, but it wasn’t enough as their season came to an end.