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Josh Rakic | June 28, 2009
NO Drew Mitchell, no worries. Randwick continued their march towards the Shute Shield finals series with a hard-fought 19-13 victory over an impressive Warringah outfit yesterday.
With their full complement of Super 14 stars - but missing Wallabies Mitchell and their 100th international Josh Valentine - the Galloping Greens did it easy in the opening quarter.
After just two minutes of play, an offside penalty gave fullback Marshall Milroy three points and, with a further two penalties just minutes after, the home side was out to a 6-0 lead off the boot of the in-form custodian.
In front of a strong Coogee Oval crowd, the home side dominated possession and field position for the next 15 minutes but several bombed try opportunities allowed the gutsy visitors back into the match.
Giant Randwick winger Ratu Nasiganiyavi, who could easily be mistaken for a young Jonah Lomu, was the benefactor of a sweeping backline move only to kick the ball out on the full instead of running over the top of Warringah fullback Pat McCabe in open space.
The visitors made the most of the resulting possession, charging upfield before stocky Waratahs No.9 Brett Sheehan busted through the line and put a barnstorming Brett Murphy under the posts for the first try of the match.
Sheehan converted to give Warringah a one-point lead before converting a penalty minutes after to stretch the score to 10-6.
Randwick looked a shadow of last week's side until 10 minutes before half-time, when Brumbies skipper and Coogee junior Stephen Hoiles set the stage for a mini-comeback.
The No.8 broke the line five metres in from the left edge to get a ground ball away for Nasiganiyavi to score untouched, only for the ball to be called forward.
It was enough to get the Galloping Greens back in gear, fly-half Tim Walsh capitalising on some good metres from his pack to notch the side's first and only try nine minutes short of half-time.
Milroy converted to give Randwick a 13-10 lead at the break.
Sheehan recovered from a first-half concussion only to be in harm's away again later, given the job of stopping Waratahs team-mate Nasiganiyavi from scoring what looked to be two certain tries.
Warringah's goal-line defence proved impenetrable but two penalties in front of goal at the 50th and 61st minute marks let Randwick extend the lead to 19-10.
Sheehan got the visitors back within a converted try of the lead with 18 minutes left on the clock through a penalty goal.
http://www.rugbyheaven.com.au/news/n...961446863.html
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