Shute Shield rugby union 2023: Wildfires knock off Manly in big statement

Notorious slow starters in 2022, the Wildfires jumped out of the gates on Saturday to lead 17-0 after 23 minutes.

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Manly hit back with three straight tries, including two from kicks which were misjudged due in a howling southerly, to lead 19-17 at the break.

Despite running into the wind and rain, the home side lifted in the second half.

"We are the out-of-towners and the big wigs in Sydney don't really give us much of a chance," Coleman said. "That is the Newcastle way. We will dig in and play for each other. To put in a performance like that on old boys' day was amazing.

"I think we made a bit of statement. We want to turn this place into a fortress. The most pleasing thing was how well we went in the second half. We knew the weather was coming. We spoke about that at half-time and the need to grind it out."

No.8 Tiueti Asi had his best game in three seasons at the Wildfires. Outside centre Tommy Watson carried his outstanding pre-season form into round one. Lock Ngarhue Jones made a massive impact of the bench, including scoring the go-ahead try and Donny Freeman produced a non-stop effort.

"It was a really strong effort across the board," Coleman said. "I let them know at half-time that we were going to clear the bench. Ngarhue Jones was amazing for that final 30 minutes. The two props who came on chopped tackled everything, Hamish Moore got two steals in 15 minutes."

Coleman stressed the importance of a positive start and the team responded.

Watson burst through a hole near halfway in the second minute. Five phases later they were held up over the tryline.

Connor Winchester opened the scoring with a penalty in the 11^th minute.

Five minutes later, Phil Bradford crashed over from a driving maul.

Nathan De Thierry then swooped on a spilt ball from a lineout close to the line for 17-0 after 23 minutes.

Starved of the ball in the opening 20 minutes, the Marlins converted the first time they ventured into the Wildfires' quarter.

They had a four-man overlap and Wildfires winger Deon Evans raced off the line to intercept a pass but was ruled offside. In a double whammy, Manly were awarded a penalty try and Evans was sent to the sin bin.

The wind made catching bombs difficult and the visitors benfited from two high kicks.

The first was allowed to bounce near halfway, Manly got the bounce and attacked with breakaway Justin Mataele backing up on the inside to cross.

Then, just before half-time, the Wildfires failed to handle another up-and-under. Three phases later Angus Bell dashed over.

"We were disappointed at half-time not to be in front," Coleman said. "We should have been 25 points up. We had three held-up tries. We just didn't take our opportunities.

"At the other end, the contestables we didn't own.

"We needed to change momentum at the start of the second half. We did that and had them in their 22m for the opening 15 minutes. The other pleasing thing was that with three minutes to go, we could have let them score and still won the game. The boys aimed up and defended the line."

In other round one games, Norths stung premiers Sydney University 37-20, West Harbour edged the Two Blues 17-15, Southern Districts upset Gordon 16-7, Easts accounted for Eastwood 30-24 and Randwick pipped Warringah 22-7.

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