Eastwood Preview Round 13 – Colts
By Paul Treanor
With Grade again missing out on playing this week due to the split round our Colts will be carrying the Eastwood flag when they play Manly over at Manly Oval this Saturday.
Last week Thirds and Seconds backed up from their games on Wednesday night with impressive wins over Warringah. Unfortunately Firsts could not make it a trifecta.
Thirds won 27 – 7 proving too strong for their opposition. Eastwood have now won four in a row and will be looking to make it five against a Manly team who only won their fourth game of the season last Saturday when they beat Southern Districts 57 – 5. Last time Eastwood played Manly they came away with a 26 – 7 victory. On current form Eastwood should take the points. With Northern Suburbs having their second bye in three weeks a win will see Eastwood move into second place on the ladder.
Seconds backed up their win over Randwick on Wednesday night with a 31- 7 win over Warringah. That makes it 10 wins in a row and Eastwood are in second place just two points behind the competition leaders. Manly suffered a 14 – 22 loss to Southern Districts last weekend and have been struggling of late with only one win from their last four starts. Despite this current form Manly are still sitting in equal fourth place on the ladder and will want to win to keep their chances on finishing in the top four alive. With Easts and Randwick facing off the result of this game and a loss to Eastwood could see them drop back to sixth and so they will be even more desperate for a win this Saturday. Eastwood on the other hand will have the added incentive of still being able to take the minor premiership should Sydney University falter over the last four rounds. Eastwood beat Manly 31 – 0 last time they met and on current form should win again on Saturday. With both teams having a lot to play for it should be a absorbing game of Rugby.
Firsts failed to capitalise on their great victory over Randwick by going down to Warringah 12- 41 on Saturday. They have struggled to put winning games together and will find the going tough against the joint competition leaders this Saturday. Manly have only lost once this year and that was against Eastwood so they will be looking to make amends. Eastwood having won 25 – 24 back in April go into the game knowing they have beaten themand so they can do it again. Eastwood has not lost two in a row since the start of the season and this Saturday is not the time to start. They have shown they are capable of beating the stronger sides and a win is vital for them to retain their place in the eight.
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