Eastern Suburbs kicker Michael Thompson slotted two conversions and a penalty goal to help steer his team to a 22-14 win over reigning premier Westgate Power on Saturday. 21368 Picture: Stewart Chambers.By Stuart Teather
EASTERN Suburbs faced their toughest challenge so far against reigning premier Westgate Power in round six of the rugby union Pillar Cup on Saturday, but held on to win 22-14.
The grand finalists from 2007 met for the second time this season, after the Suburbs trounced Westgate 35-10 in round one this year.
It was a different Power side that came out on Saturday, and with a number of big-name players back in the side, the Power pushed the Suburbs to the limit.
But the Suburbs were too good, and Samu Taufa, Moses Haukinima and Israel Likiliki all ran through tries for the Suburbs, and Michael Thompson had two conversions and a penalty goal.
Eastern coach Stephen Tia said his side performed well below its best in difficult conditions.
“We tried to play a bit fancy early on, which the conditions didn’t suit, and we threw a few 50/50 balls which we shouldn’t have,” he said.
“At half-time we had a ‘chat’, and they put us back on track. We had to fight it out, which is a good thing, we scored early, in the first five minutes I think, and the boys relaxed, they over-relaxed.
“It was a hard one. They came after us, they were the premiers from last year and they’re quite a smart rugby team.”
He said his side suffered from a less-than-perfect preparation during the week.
“We didn’t have an ideal preparation, we basically only had about an hour (of preparation) for this game. Normally we have four hours for a game.”
Tia said his regular stars were unusually quiet throughout the game, but some lesser lights stepped up.
“A couple of guys, Setu (Felise) and Presley (Naea) were basically our fourth and fifth choice props, and they played really well, both of them from Endeavour Hills and they played really well.”
Next week the undefeated Suburbs come up against the Harlequin Souths, who were on the receiving end of a 65-7 belting at the hands of the North-West Uni Lions on Saturday.
