The cream is rising to the top in the Illawarra District Rugby Union competition with Shoalhaven and Avondale recording impressive wins on Saturday.
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Avondale showed last week's win over Shoalhaven was no fluke, beating competition leaders Tech-Tahs 34-14.
The Wombats victory allowed Shoalhaven to reclaim top spot after the Pickers beat the Shamrocks 40-7 at Ocean Park.
The Miller brothers Will and George as well as the Brandon siblings Mark, Kieran and Steven ran riot for the Shoals, especially in the opening stanza, helping the visitors skip to a 28-7 halftime lead.
The Shamrocks matched the powerful Shoals for most of the second half but couldn't stop the visitors from crossing for two late tries.
Shoalhaven player-coach Will Miller capped off a great game in the dying minutes by stripping the ball off a Shamrocks player and running 15 metres down field before passing off to Mark Brandon to score his second try of the game.
Brandon, who also converted five of Shoalhaven's six tries, finished with 20 points.
Miller said the scoreline did not reflect how hard a game it was.
"They are a great side. We were made to work really hard to grind out the win," he said.
"They were a lot more physical than some boys might have expected. It was really competitive, which was good."
Shamrocks coach Paul Ridgeway said his team tried hard but were just outgunned by a better team on the day.
"They are a quality outfit one to 15, have a really strong forward pack at set pieces and in both line-out and scrum, they were especially dominant," he said.
"Their work at the breakdowns is kind of second to none, they've got the two Miller brothers working in tandem and they have got two or three guys who are just as efficient over the ball as well.
"And, that is hard to compete with.
"Our guys gave as much effort as they could and they worked to the patterns and structures we tried to play to, we were just outgunned to be honest, they were just too good for us today."
We were just outgunned to be honest, they were just too good for us today.
- Shamrocks coach Paul Ridgeway
Miller added it was good to respond with a solid performance following Shoalhaven's loss to Avondale last week.
"Avondale came out firing and we didn't match that and that's what happens when you are not ready for the better teams in the competition," he said.
"On their day anyone can beat anyone and Avondale looked really good. It is up to us now to match that intensity and hard work. I think we started to do that with today's performance."
With three regular season rounds remaining, Shamrocks and Tech-Tahs, who lost on Saturday, are still well-placed to finish in the top four and play finals football.
In the other matches University beat Camden 26-19, Bowral pipped Campbelltown 39-36 and Kiama downed Vikings 45-12.
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Agron Latifi
Wollongong born and bred. I love reporting about the Illawarra region and have been doing it for more than 20 years. I've moved into sport recently after covering the education round for the last five plus years for the Illawarra Mercury. It's been a great pleasure.
Wollongong born and bred. I love reporting about the Illawarra region and have been doing it for more than 20 years. I've moved into sport recently after covering the education round for the last five plus years for the Illawarra Mercury. It's been a great pleasure.
