Even Stevens vs West Harbour

The Marlins and Pirates shared the spoils over the weekend with 3 wins and a draw each.

The colts played their fixtures at the deserted M&M coloured arena that is Concord Oval. West Harbour are generally very strong through the colts and a lot of their juniors always tend to "mature" a little quicker than the beaches boys. The Pirates got the early running with victory in 3s before Mick Saunders boys returned to form with an impressive win. 1st grade went down to a good Wests outfit but still sit in the top half of the table and will look to improve their position in the coming weeks.

Lui Siale celebrated his 100th grade game on Saturday and it was very fitting that he did so against his old club. Lui who has played over 90 of his 100 grade games in 1st grade originally came over to Manly with his brother Chris after a promising schoolboy career at St Pats Strathfield and Wests colts. Former Marlin Chris Siale is still playing rugby over in France and he would have been proud of his younger brother Lui who (as per usual) scored a try to mark the occasion! Congratulations Lui and heres to the next 100!

West Harbour have always been a bit of a bogey team for the Marlins and regardless of form and table position they can score points against anyone. With the top squad coming off 2 disappointing losses in the past fortnight it was time to get back into the winners circle.  After a sluggish start the Marlins finally got things moving through some good individual tries to Siale and his centre partner Brian Sefania. The good form continued after the break with Eddie Aholelei and Elvis Taione scoring very un-front rower like tries!  The win was eventually sealed as speedy Marlins finisher Chris Yarrington scored in the grandstand corner to the delight of the home crowd and in particular a young blonde female fan who clearly only had her eyes on number 14.

There is a feeling the cohesion is coming and if the boys can control their discipline things should start to get much easier.That being said 40-26 is a good result for the boys and they will look to make it back to back wins against a Penrith side who are probably still celebrating their unbelievable victory over Randwick at Coogee!

Things finally clicked for the Marlin's reserve grade side with a clinical 61-17 victory in a very entertaining match. The Marlins were hot right from the start dotting down 4 tries in under 20 minutes thanks to some expansive and ball in hand rugby. Unfortunately the old 20 minute snooze button was hit for the remainder of the half and Wests scored 17 unanswered points to take some confidence into the break. Coaches Matt McGoldrick and Daniel Brown warned the boys that if they continued to fall asleep the Pirates could easily get back into the match. Fortunately this was not the case and the Marlin's blew the Pirates off the park in the 2nd stanza. It was a very good collective team effort from the reggies with the forwards providing an excellent attacking platform for the backs to create the opportunities. Well done to Ryan Melrose who celebrated his 100th grade game with 2 tries - eat your heart out Mr Siale!

Things were too hard to split in 3rd grade with a 14 all draw. Early on it looked like the Marlin's were going to have a good day and after weathering sustained West's attack they unleashed a sweeping back line raid that went 90 metres with Cameron Cole showing his renowned speed to dot down next to the sticks. Jack Brisby then followed up "B rabbits" effort with a trademark show and go that had him cutting through a bamboozled Wests back line. Unfortunately that was all she wrote for the thirsty thirds who let Wests back into the game and were unable to score a winner. It was a tight contest though and Wests were a good side so there will be plenty of positives for Edwards and Murphy to take out of that one.

4s had a disappointing loss going down 29-12 against a strong Pirates 4th grade side. The Marlins had some very good patches in the match and coach MacDonald might be a little closer to selecting his best XV. Steve Gilbert made a welcome return to the village green showing some nice touches - so too a tireless effort from Mad Mick Dawes. Dawesy has been rowing surf boats over the summer months and we have missed his very loud voice and general perspective on things - welcome back Mick!

We are still sitting in 3rd place on the Club Championship and its time to make a move this weekend.

Penrith are a much improved outfit in 2011 and a clean sweep will be a very tough ask - they are not to be taken lightly so play well this Saturday and lets ensure we come home with the points!

See you at the rugby!

Bergo