East Campbelltown Eagles yesterday hosted second placed Windsor Wolves at Waminda Oval in round 16 of the 2015 Sydney Shield competition.
After a see sawing battle, the teams shared the two competition when the match ended in a 28-28 draw.
The Eagles started strongly with an early try to Mason Talolua, which was converted by Ben Baker for a 6-0 lead.
However Windsor replied with two converted tries of their own to grab the lead at 12-6.
The Eagles rallied hard and after some pressure on the visitors’ defence halfback Chris Standing put on a fantastic side step that opened up the Wolves defence like a tin of sardines.
The try was converted by Baker to help the home side go level on the scoreboard at 12-12.
Next to score was that man Ben Baker who bagged a try to help take the reigning premiers ahead 16-12 at the break.
It was the Eagles who scored first in the second stanza through new recruit, winger Kite Paseka.
Baker converted Paseka’s try to give the home team a handy lead at 22-12.
But after getting a fair bit of possession, Windsor ran in three unanswered to jump to a 28-22 lead of their own.
From there it was game on in the tense final 10 minutes.
Eagles old warhorse John Da Silva split the Wolves defence to run 50 meters to score next to the posts, Baker converted and the scores were level at 28-28.
The Eagles had a final chance when Baker had a shot at field goal but it was waved away.
“It was a good effort from the boys,’’ said Eagles coach Richard Barnes after the match.
“I thought we were the better team but a few things didn’t go our way.
[social_quote duplicate=”no” align=”default”]“We are showing that we can match it with the top teams so it’s something we can build on,” Barnes said.[/social_quote]
Best for the Eagles were John Da Silva, Chris Standing, Sean Connor and Mason Talolua.
The Eagles host the Hills Bulls at Waminda Oval this Sunday; games from 10.30am, Sydney Shield kick off at 2.30pm.
