The East Campbelltown Eagles victory over Belrose Eagles was not as easy as the 26-4 scoreline suggests.
A depleted Eagles team – they fielded no fewer than eight under 20s players – had to do a mountain of defensive work to stop the visitors from causing an upset.
Coach Richard Barnes singled out the massive defensive effort as they key to victory and the two premiership points, which keep the Eagles on top of the Sydney Shield ladder.
“Defence wins games and the guys played for each other,’’ Barnes said after the game.
“I can’t compliment our guys enough for their defence today.
“Belrose are always a tough team with high completions and they threw everything at us today.
“We have had a core group playing together for around 10 years and mix it with young talent it’s very exciting to watch,’’ he said.
East Campbelltown Eagles president Daniel Draper said the game was “a credit to the young talent we have in our club and the work behind the scenes from Wests Tigers and Wests Magpies’’.
“To field eight players under the age of 19 in a tough competition such as Sydney Shield shows the awesome development and future coming out of Campbelltown,’’ Mr Draper said.
East Campbelltown, who have a bye this coming weekend, are on 24 points and share the competition lead with St Marys after 14 rounds.
Daniel Muir, who scored twice against Belrose on the weekend, leads the Top Tryscorers with 15 “meat pies’’ to his name so far this season.
Against Belrose, the Campbelltown boys came out hard from the start, running in a try in the opening minutes when debutant Shondre Silva showed great footwork to bamboozle the defence out wide to score.
Sean Connor converted for a 6-0 lead.
Bayden Stewart sliced open the defence to set up Kobe Chamblain under the post for their second try and a 12-0.
Belrose finally got some possession, but the Eagles defence was brilliant, snuffing several attacking raids.
The visitors finally cracked the Eagles’ wall of defence to get on the scoreboard at 12-4.
Campbelltown’s winger Shondre Silva scored his second try for the day through a cross field kick from Sean Connor and the Eagles headed into the half time break with a handy 18-4 lead.
Campbelltown in the second half withstood a mountain of attack from Belrose, and once again their defence was solid.
It was Campbelltown’s Daniel Muir that woke up the scoreboard attendant with a try out wide from another Sean Connor cross field kick as Campbelltown extended their lead at 22-4.
Daniel Muir bagged his second try as East Campbelltown ran out winners 26-4.
Following the bye, East Campbelltown Eagles will host St Mary’s in a top of the table clash at Waminda Oval on Sunday, July 29.
There will be four games, starting from 10.30am and the main game at 2.30pm, and the Eagles will be celebrating their Polynesian round.
There will be Polynesian food stalls and entertainment, including drummers, in what promises to be a great rugby league and community gathering.
