Harlequins rugby club celebrated the 300th game of forward Alex Sherwin with a 60-17 win over Shamrocks on Saturday at Campbelltown Showground.
However the score does not reflect how hard Campbelltown had to work to get on top of the plucky visitors.
Harlequins got on the scoreboard with a converted try six minutes into the game.
When they went back to back off their next possession it looked like another 100 plus haul was on the cards.
But Shamrocks had other ideas and soon hit back, letting the home crowd know they weren’t going to be pushovers.
Off the back of a couple pf penalties, and lineout wins, the Shamrocks turned momentum their way and capitalised with a try of their own to make it 14-5.
It turned out to be the wake up call the home side needed, which lifted after this point and never looked back until the game, and the two competition points, were in the bag.
The Harlequins missed with a penalty kick when the next scoring opportunity came along.
But they didn’t miss again for the rest of the half, scoring three more tries to race to a 42-5 lead at the break.
The two sides exchanged tries early in the second half before the Harlequins ran away with it, despite a courageous effort from the Shamrocks right to the end.
Harlequins head south to the Southern Highlands this coming weekend to take on Bowral. They have a bye a week later, the last round of the home and away season, followed by semi finals.
It’s almost certain Campbelltown will play Kiama in the first semi, but we’ll need to wait until the final round to find out who will have home ground advantage.
The two clubs are neck and neck at present on 42 points each.
Ladder leaders Shoalhaven have a massive 13 point buffer and will take out the minor premiership.
They look like playing Camden (38 points), who will definitely finish fourth because there’s daylight between them and Shamrocks (23 points).
The big question for fans is can anyone beat Shoalhaven, who beat Camden 55-15 on the weekend.
In second grade Campbeltown kept their semi hopes alive with a 48-31 defeat of Shamrocks on Saturday.
The Harlequins are just one point out of the top four, with two rounds to go.
Camden, who are running second in reserve grade, defeated Shoalhaven 22-20 on the weekend.
