Gerringong roar to life against hapless Nowra

SOUTH COAST RUGBY LEAGUE

BRENDAN CRABB

GERRINGONG thumped Nowra 68-10 in their round 16 match at Michael Cronin Oval.

The Lions dominated possession early, prop Greg Sharpe opening Gerringong's account in the 8th minute after a storming run saw him brush past several defenders to score under the posts.

Just minutes later Gerringong kept the ball alive nicely for Jason White to score the first of his three tries. Neat footwork from Pat Cronin saw the locals go ahead 16-0 in the blink of an eye.

The remainder of the first half became a procession, with tries coming at regular intervals.

Ryan Staples' explosive running off the back of great passing allowed him to bag a double in the space of a few minutes, and additional tries to Hayden Bombacci and White enabled Gerringong to go into the half-time sheds up 40-0.

The Warriors returned with some intensity and commitment in the second half, halfback Arthur Stewart scoring an impressive long range try after managing to skilfully evade the cover defence. Matt Fownes scored immediately afterwards, before Nowra five-eighth Glenn McCallum also bagged a four-pointer.

Gerringong would not be denied though, and after a period of strong defence from the visitors the Lions scored four times in the last 12 minutes; Lloyd Bowen's strong running resulting in two tries. Tim Scott and White also crossed the stripe.

Matt Fownes nailed a number of difficult conversions to finish with ten goals from twelve attempts.

For the Lions, Greg Sharpe, Mick Brown and Jason White were standouts.

Meanwhile, a stunning second half performance from an enthusiastic Warilla-Lake South Gorillas outfit put a dent in the semi-final aspirations of the Berry-Shoalhaven Heads Magpies.

The Magpies looked on target for a comfortable win when they led 20-8 at half-time, but 36 unanswered points in the second half left the home side shattered.

Warilla second rower Aaron Henry scored four tries for the visitors, three coming in the first ten minutes of the second half.

Berry led 10-nil early before some soft defence let Henry in for his first.

Gorillas' fullback Brad Hancock then scored to cut the margin to 10-8.

Albion Park-Oak Flats thumped Milton-Ulladulla 48-12 and Shellharbour City did likewise 40-12 against Batemans Bay to complete the round.