Mounties have continued their impressive start to the VB NSW Cup season with a solid 38-16 win over Newtown on Saturday.
Bill Topou continued his great form for Mounties when he pounced on a pass from the Jets attack close to the Mounties line in the opening set and ran the length of the field to open the scoring for Mounties to lead 6-0.
Play then settled with both teams feeling each other out and it was the Jets that struck next in the 15th minute when a rolling kick bobbled around in the in goal and Jonathon Reuben was able to force it down for an unconverted try and Mounties led 6-4.
In the 28th minute Newtown hit the lead when another kick from Arana Taumata bounced awkwardly for Mounties fullback Joe Bond and the Jets were on hand again to score an easy try and they led 10-6.
The 34th minute saw Mounties lock it up when Mosese Pangai was able to sneak over in the corner after some nice ball movement by Mitch Cornish and Joe Bond to put him over and it was 10-10 nearing the break.
After half time Mounties took the lead when Jake Foster claimed a try from a Mitch Cornish kick with Kurt Horton adding the extras to make it 16-10 in the 43rd minute and just five minutes later Foster got a double when he hit a nice hole off a neat Cornish pass to crash over and make it 22-10.
In the 56th minute Sami Sauiluma kept up his impressive strike rate when he steamed onto a pass and used him big right hand fend to brush off Reuben and plant the ball in the corner for an unconverted try and Newtown found themselves running out of time at 26-10.
Mounties where not done however and in the 67th minute Kyle O'Donnell grabbed a try when Matt Place grubber end and regather and put O'Donnell away under the posts for Horton to add the extras and take the score to 32-10 and put the game out of reach.
Newtown kept fighting and in the 78th minute an intercept by Brett Lane saw them reduce the deficit to 32-16 but Joe Bond had the final saw for Mounties when he calmly plucked an intercept on Mounties goal line when Newtown looked likely to score again and raced 95 metres to score under the black dot to make the final score 38-16 in favour of Mounties.
Their third win in as many starts see's Steve Antonelli's men remain at the top of the VB NSW Cup ladder with an impressive for and against.
In the Ron Massey Cup Mounties left it to the last minute to grab the two points from Windsor who had led the game for the previous 79.
Windsor led the contest scoring four tries to three in the first half to lead 20-16 at the break and looked in control early in the second half when they scored two converted tries to lead 32-16 going into the final quarter however the decision to kick a penalty goal ultimately proved costly for the Windsor team when they turned over possession on the next set and Mounties scored a converted try to reduce the margin by 12 with Windsor leading 34-22.
Mounties quickly scored again to make it 34-26 and with the clock winding down they were soon in again to make it 34-30 and the Windsor team were suddenly on the back foot.
Dave Cahalane proved to be the difference when he charged down the left flank and dived over to make it 34-34 with Brendan Newton calmly slotting the goal from out wide on the bell to hand Mounties victory in round 1.
In the Sydney Shield Mounties and new team Peninsula Seagulls were locked 12-12 at half time with Mounties squandering plenty of opportunities and the second half was the same with plenty of mistakes from the home team handing the Gulls their maiden victory, taking the game 32-24.
Mounties are at home again next week with the NSW Cup taking on the North Sydney Bears while the Ron Massey Cup and Sydney Shield tackle Guildford.
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