WARILLA-Lake South Gorillas have bounced back from the disappointment of last week’s loss to Gerringong with a strong 24-6 win over Jamberoo Superoos at Cec Glenholmes Oval on Sunday.
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In a scrappy game which was interrupted by a constant flow of dropped ball and penalties, the Superoos hung in the match despite going into the game fielding just 10 of their 2018 premiership 17 and lost centre Simon Maslanka (sent-off) and James Gilmore (head knock) in the opening half.
The Gorillas were also without several of their regular starting 13 and have again earmarked themselves as one of the competition favourites after downing Shellharbour, Kiama and now Jamberoo in the opening four rounds of the competition.
In fact the visitors got by far the better start, with lock Luke Asquith showing lots of class to slice through and dive over out wide.
Fullback Dean Watling converted for a 6-nil lead.
That lead was short-lived when three successive penalties gave the Gorillas plenty of quality field position and half Emmanuel Sultana spotted a narrow gap close to the line and found his way over close to the posts.
He converted to tie the scores up at 6-all.
This gave the Gorillas plenty of confidence and they launched several attacking raids, but the combination of dour defence and poor handling kept them at bay before they kept the ball moving on the last tackle and second-rower Kyle Stone cleverly grubber-kicked for winger Kye Deane to win the race for the ball and give his side a 10-6 lead, an advantage they held until half-time.
Jamberoo, who had earlier lost Gilmore with a head knock, then were reduced to 12 in the 30th minute in bizarre circumstances when centre Simon Maslanka lost the ball in a tackle and threw off the Warilla defender who landed awkwardly, causing referee Drury to send him from the field.
A handling error in the 45th minute as Jamberoo were trying to get away from their own line handed Warilla another strong attacking chance and they had them pay when Stone showed all his strength to crash over.
Despite their setbacks, Jamberoo kept battling, with forwards Asquith, Jack Loveday and Joe Rokoqo all playing the full 80 minutes and eventually the fatigue told when Tyson Brown (64th minute) and a Dean (67th minute) added tries to round out the scoring.
In a strong performance, James Keelan, Damien Paulissen, Deane, Stone and replacement five-eighth Blair Grant were best for the Gorillas, while Asquith, Loveday, Ben Jones and rookie winger Cody McParland never stopped trying for the Superoos.
