The Western Suburbs Magpies suffered one of their most humiliating defeats in their long and proud history going down to the Illawarra Cutters by 76 to 16 at Campbelltown Stadium. The Cutters scored 13 tries with Bronx Goodwin continuing the nightmare the magpies have with opposition fullbacks this year when he scored 3 tries and booted 12 goals from 13 attempts for a personal tally of 36 points.
The Cutters were full of running throughout the entire game and were able to cross the advantage line with ease whereas the magpies struggled to break the defences of Illawarra with 2 of their 3 tries coming from kicks in behind the defensive line.
Illawarra opened the scoring in the 7th minute after their forward pack made inroads into the magpie forwards and former Souths and Parramatta halfback, Jeremy Smith delivered a neat pass for Bronx Goodwin to run through a narrow gap to score the first of his 3 tries of the afternoon. He missed the conversion of his own try but it was the only shot a goal he would miss for the day.
Illawarra scored again in the 13th minute after a scrum win on Wests 30 metre line. Hooker Damien Cook scored after he was able to struggle through tackles in a detemined run from dummy half. Goodwin added the extras for the Cutters to go to a 10-0 lead. It was now becoming apparent that halfback Jeremy Smith was being given too much latitude in attack by Wests and their marker defence was simply not up to scratch but the next Illawarra try to front rower Jack Stockwell at the 15 minute mark was just a simple run first off the ruck from 5 metres out for an easy 4 pointer which Goodwin turned into 6.At the 21 minute mark, the Cutters again exposed the poor marker defence of Wests when hooker Damien Cook took off from dummy half on the Wests 40 metre line to outpace the defence and link up with former Canberra Raider forward Josh Miller who scored besides the posts. Goodwin added the extra for Illawarra to lead 22-0.
More embarrassing defensive lapses by Wests came at the 27th minute when Jarrod Thompson strolled through some very poor attempted tackles and found a willing runner in Jack Stockwell to score another easy try. With the conversion by Goodwin, the score was now 28-0 but the scoring wasn't over yet for Illawarra with halfback Jeremy Smith receiving the ball on Wests 30 metre line on an angled run and was able to slice through the defense with ease to score at the 31st minute mark. The conversion made the score 34-0 and another thrashing was unfolding before a very disheartened magpie faithfull.
However the magpies were able to strike back in the 37th minute after a rare Illawarra mistake when the pass was ruled forward on their 30 metre line. After winning the scrum, big forward Seffa Silafu was held up over the tryline and from the ensuing play the ball, a neat little chip kick over the defensive line by Nigel Millgate saw replacement front rower Todd Makejev pounce on the ball ingoal under the posts. Trent Touma converted to make the score 34-6 in favour of Illawarra and that remained the score at halftime.
There was little that Wests coach Trevor Schodel could say at the break to his charges except that Wests must improve their defense if they had any chance of remaining competitive. However it didn't take Illawarra long to again burst through some ordinary Wests defense with former Ipswich player, Jacob Ling scoring in the 45th minute after a great run by veteren journeyman Ray Cashmere who brushed aside would be tacklers. The conversion was successful and it was now 40-6. Then just 2 minutes later, winger Josh Goulton scored a magnificant solo try. After receiving a terrific cutout pass on Wests 40 metre line, he step out of tackle after tackle running along the sideline before cutting back inside where he evaded the oncoming defense, then almost barrelled a team mate out of the way to score under the posts. Extras were added and it was now 46 to 6. At the 54th minute the Magpies dropped the ball on their 30 metre line and from the resulting play, Bronx Goodwin scored his second try of the afternoon by outpacing the defense for a soft try. He converted his own try and Illawarra had eached the half century 52-6.
To their credit, Wests hit back at the 58th minute when that man, Aaron Sweeney, who never gave up in defense or attack scored a well deserved try. A well placed chip kick towards the wing by Nigel Millgate on Illawarra's 40 metre line was caught on the full by a flying Dale Roberts who passed inside to Aaron who sprinted the final 10 metres to the tryline. Trent Touma added the extras and the score was now 52-12.
However, the euphoria for Wests was short lived. Again, paper thin defense resulted in Illawarra scoring in the 63rd minute when Jake Marketo was on hand to take the final pass after Stockwell burst through on Wests 40 metre line. With the conversion it was 58-12.
Wests scored in the 66th minute after receiving a penalty on the Cutter's 20 metre line. Dean Parata was held up over the line. When play was taken back to the 10 metre line, Lionel O'Malley surprised the defense when he scooted from dummy half without a hand being laid on him. The conversion attempted went wide.
Illawarra scored further tries in the 71st minute to Jarrod Farlow, the 75th minute which came from a dropped ball on the half way line was picked up by David Gower and given to Damien Cook who sprinted 40 meters to score under the posts and in the last 20 seconds by Bronx Goodwin after an easy run from dummy half by Cook highlighted the poor marker defense.
Western Suburbs will have a lot of soul searching to do over the coming weeks and will be relived to have the bye next week. Lional O'Malley and Dean Parata continue to shine in a disappointing outfit whilst Aaron Sweeney never stopped trying. Big centre Henry Iuta was an exception in defense with some brutal hits but was placed on report for a high tackle at the 69 minute mark.
For the Cutters, it was their second win on the trot and their forwards led by Ray Cashmere, David Gower and Jack Stockwell played all over their counterparts. Jeremy Smith was busy and created opportunities out wide and hooker Damien Cook took advantage of some very sloppy marker defense.
Wests
1 Michael La Manna
2 Sharlon Taki
3 Dale Roberts
4 Henry Iuta
5 Daniel Perkins
6 Trent Touma
7 Nigel Millgate (c)
8 Jay Maseuli
9 Lional O'Malley
10 Aaron Sweeney
11 John Leiataua
12 Seffa Silafu
13 Tom Morrison
Interchange
14 Dean Parata
15 Daniel La Manna
16 Mundarra Weldon
21 Todd Makejev
Illawarra
1 Bronx Goodwin
2 Josh Goultain
3 Chase Stanley
4 Lulia Lulia
5 Denan Kemp
6 Jake Marketo
7 Jeremy Smith
8 Ray Cashmere (c)
9 Damien Cook
10 Jack Stockwell
11 David Gower
12 Jacob Ling
20 Josh Miller
Interchange
15 Jarrod Thompson
16 Jarrod Farlow
17 Mark Asquith
13 Will Matthews
Illawarra 76 (Goodwin 3, Cook 2, Stockwell 2, Miller, Smith, Ling, Goulton, Marketo, Farlow tries: Goodwin 12 goals) d Wests 16 (Makejev, Sweeney, O'Malley tries: Touma 2 goals)
Half time : Illawarra 34 Wests 6
In the earlier games, Wests defeated Canberra in Harold Matthews 38-18 whilst Canberra defeated Wests in SG Ball 62-6.
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