The Kiama Knights have consolidated their spot in the competition's top three after notching a solid 20-12 win over local rivals, Jamberoo Superoos at Kiama Showground on Saturday.
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Both sides went into the match without several key players, with Jamberoo's woes continuing when fullback Paul Asquith added his name to the other three who were injured last week, after tweaking his hamstring at training.
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For Kiama, they were missing the services of flyer Matt Morris, who injured his groin at training on Friday night.
On the plus side for the Knights, former captain Kieran Poole made a welcome return after retiring last season, boosting his sides already healthy forward stocks.
With the howling southerly at their backs, Kiama captain and halfback Tommy Atkins took control and his side backed him, to stick to a fairly simple game plan of controlling the ball and keeping their opposition pinned in their own half to score twice in the opening 40 minutes to lead 12-0 at the break.
The first try came at the 12 minute mark when five-eighth Dylan Palmer-Quigg ran the blind side and found winger Cade Hotham on the fly to score in the corner.
Fullback Brad Killmore judged the wind to perfection to give his side a 6-0 lead.
Eight minutes later the Knights were further ahead, when after more pressure, second-rower Ethan Ford slipped a great pass to Killmore who plunged over and converted for a 12-0 lead.
Despite Jamberoo managing to get into Kiama territory briefly and creating a couple of chances, they were unable to convert them into points and the crowd was left to wonder if 12 points running with the wind would be enough.
Jamberoo needed to be the first to score after the interval and captain-coach Jono Dallas took it upon himself to give his side a sniff just two minutes into the half when he darted through from 20 metres out and centre Matt Forsyth converted, suddenly the game was alive at 12-6.
Unlike the Knights in the first half, the Superoos were unable to mount the same degree of control and some undisciplined play in front of the Jamberoo posts allowed Killmore to add a 55th minute penalty for an eight point advantage.
This was then followed up by some fragile defence that Knight second-rower Tom Angel took full advantage of as he dove over the line.
Killmore was again on target to give Kiama what seemed to be an unassailable 20-6 lead with 15 minutes to play.
The Superoos did manage to score a late consolation converted try, to a rampaging Kyle Stone, however it turned out to be too little too late.
Atkins, Palmer-Quigg, Vaughn Thistlethwaite and Tom Angel had big games for the Knights, while Simon Maslanka, James Asquith and Jayden Foye never stopped trying for Jamberoo.
Both teams will face tough games next weekend, with Kiama travelling to Warilla to take on the Gorillas, while Jamberoo will finally return home after their last game at Kevin Walsh Oval at the end of April to host the Shellharbour Sharks.