22°C | Wednesday September 11, 2024 
3 July 2023
Northern Suburbs Rugby Union
It’s always a fiery matchup when Sydney Uni comes to North Sydney Oval, and round 13 was no different. Uncharacteristically this season Uni is hovering amongst the mid-table pack with seven wins in 13 games, a position that is below par for the 33-time Shute Shield Premiers who are also the defending champions this season. Norths on the other hand came into the game as table-toppers with an impressive nine wins from 12 fixtures.
Sydney Uni got off to an early 8-point lead before the Shoremen hit back with a pick-and-drive dive over from flanker Brodie Leber. Brodie was at it again not long after setting up teammate Nick Duffy with an incredible flight pass back on the inside for a tough, acrobatic finish in the corner. Norths would cross the line again in the 55th minute, with scores tied up 15-15. Just over 30 metres out inside centre Harry Burey put on the turbo jets after a quick pop pass, beat several Uni players and crossed to make it. A penalty kick from Jude Gibbs and a crucial scrum win against the feed with 10 minutes remaining was enough to put Norths over the edge 25-22.
The Shoremen have five games left in the regular season with key matchups against Randwick, who are currently 3rd on the ladder, 4th placed Eastwood and to finish off the 2nd place Hunter. The fight for the minor premiership is going to be lively!
North Sydney Bears
The big black Bears are back on the road again after they had a victory over Wests. The Bears had been in a form slump, dropping their last four games. With the bye last week they looked sharp as Allan Fitzgibbon crossed the line just two minutes into the game after a smooth right flank assault. The right wing was up next with Tuipulotu Katoa finishing off a simple overlap to go up 8-0. Wests bite back with a try 14 minutes in, but a Katoa intercept led to a full field line break that ended with a Josh Bergamin try to snap the Magpies’ momentum.
Jesse Marschke crossed minutes later thanks to a Zach Docker-Clay line break and assist to put Norths up 20-6 with the conversion. Wests then went on a run with back-to-back converted tries to go into halftime 20-18. This would be the last of the Magpies’ scoring as in the second half the Bears went on a rampage. Reuben Porter dived over three minutes into the half to get things started. Allan Fitzgibbon then crossed the white line yet again off a simple right-wing overlap, quickly followed by a Ben Stevanovic try from a dropped bomb.
With Norths up 36-18, Allan Fitzgibbon put the nail in the coffin with another dive over try then an incredible full field effort with a grubber ahead, regather and electric pace to burn Wests. The winger ended the game with four tries as Ben Stavnovic booted five conversions to finish the game 46-18. With this win over Wests, Norths also claimed the Jason Taylor Cup. What a seriously impressive outing for the Bears; with only seven rounds remaining until finals, they sit third on the ladder. They will be happy to return to the winner circle but cannot relax just yet as next week they face rivals Blacktown followed by the first place Bulldogs. Luckily Norths will only play one of their final five games away after that top of the table clash at Belmore.
Norths Basketball
On aggregate the Bears have been the best team in NBL1 2023 with both men’s and women’s sides sitting third on their ladders heading into the final three rounds of the season.
Last weekend saw a double header facing Albury-Wodonga Bandits on Saturday at home then a road trip up to Newcastle on Sunday. First up the women had some serious home cooking, topping the Lady Bandits 70-57 on the back of star American import Jolene Anderson’s 20 points, nine rebounds and five assists. The men had a thrilling win that took double overtime to decide the final result of 107-97. Lewis Holey posted an incredible 24 points and 25 rebounds; Robbie Moore had 27 points which included several clutch buckets.
Perhaps exhausted from this battle in combination with the road trip up to Newcastle they couldn’t back it up, going down to the Falcons 68-57 in a grind of a match. Moore stepped up big time again netting 22 points to continue his breakout season. Meanwhile the women also fell in a tight contest 77-74 despite a strong 22 points, 11 rebounds outing by Austrian centre Sarah Schicher. Newcastle were out for vengeance after the Bears women handed them one of their two losses this season earlier in round 11. Both sides are definitely title contenders. Both Bears sides will be happy with their table position as they get set for winnable games to finish out the regular season against Inner West, Penrith and Sydney Comets.