1st grade colts vs Northern Suburbs - Match report - by Sam Ryan

Southern Districts Colts have been beaten 44 - 25 by an impressive North's outfit at Forshaw Park on Saturday. Despite running into a heavy wind, the Rebels had the best of the opening stages and took an early lead when winger Cyril Sawaki found space down a tight blindside and linked with Jono Brown for the opening points. The Rebels loose forwards were dominant early on, repeatedly finding there way over the advantage line. However North's playmaker Josh Kay was able to use the strong wind to keep play deep in Southern Districts territory and the visitors capitalised soon after with prop Max Jones crashing over close to the ruck to give his side the lead. The Rebels were unable to make their way out of their defensive quarter and were made to pay when the North's back three linked up superbly to score an impressive counter attack try mid way through the first half. This impressive display of running rugby continued soon after when South's flyer Sawaki found space after a lazy North's kick chase and found Damon Brown backing up to bridge the gap to just 4 points. North's once again managed to work there way deep in to Southern Districts territory from the kick off and spent the remainder of the half on the attack. The Rebels defence remained resilient , repeatedly rejecting the visitors raids. However the continuous pressure took its toll when Rebels prop Cameron Orr was given a yellow card after a number of Rebels penalties. Both sides exchanged penalty goals late in the half before North's centre Sam Barclay made his way through a gaping hole to give his side an 11 point lead at the break. North's began the second half on the front foot. Fullback John Porch continued to impress and took advantage of some lazy South's defence to further stretch his sides lead. Despite having the wind advantage the Rebels were unable to match the pressure built by the visitors in the first half. Tries to Trent Winterstein and Oliver Tekivita bridged the gap to just six points with twenty minutes remaining. However poor discipline again proved costly for the Rebels with Harrison Orr shown a yellow card, all but ending any hope of a Rebels comeback. The visitors crossed twice more late in the second half to register a well deserved 44 - 25 victory. Rebels coach James Barkell was disappointed with his sides discipline. "A couple of yellow cards didn't help our cause. That really broke our cohesion up in the set piece and North's began to dominate us there. However he remains confident in his young side. "Its a learning process, we still have some schoolboys in the team, so you know those boys will only continue to improve." Coaching Director Darren Bray singled out inside centre Damon Brown as his standout. "I thought Damon played very well, as did Cameron Orr, our prop, when he was on the field." However he agreed his sides tactics in the second half weren't quite right. "I didn't think we had enough field position. We didn't punch it into the corners and didn't get enough time in the red zone and that's sort of what cost us there at the end." The Rebels now drop to fifth on the ladder and will have to improve if they want to compete against a strong Gordon outfit at Chatswood Oval next week.