Sharks Cement Spot Inside Top Four

The Belconnen Sharks have shaken up the top four with a 28-12 victory against the Woden Valley Rams at Woden Park in a fiery top-four clash.  

With both teams sitting third and fourth respectively, both sides were looking to solidify a top-four spot leading into the second half of the season. 

With the away side kicking off the action, both sides came out with hard hits down the middle of the field.

Off the back of a chip and chase from Jordan-Holten Williams in the 13th minute, it was Ben Kami who came through and found space to grab the ball and score in the left corner to score the first points for the Sharks.

A successful conversion by Jordan Holten-Williams sees the score 6-nil. 

As the restart went dead, this put pressure on the Rams’ defence.  
But you couldn't even blink as Jordan Holten-Williams once again found a gap in the middle of the field, passed to fellow front-rower Jacob Piper to make a run and break through the Rams’ defence and offloaded to Zac Patch for the hooker to score under the posts to extend the lead 12-nil. 

After multiple try-scoring opportunities and hard-hitting sets from both sides, this is where the score remained heading into the sheds. 

Kicking off the second half action, the Rams were desperate to put some points on the scoreboard while the Sharks were looking to keep their momentum and upset the home side with a victory.

Off the back of a strong defensive tackle on Izayah Petricevich, Woden’s Ryan Griffith saw the opportunity in the Sharks' defence and scored the first points for the Rams right next to the posts out of dummy half. This saw the Rams close the gap 12-6. 

After some set-for-set footy from both sides making ground in every opportunity they could, the Sharks found the gap in the Rams' defensive line with Zac Patch taking on that opportunity and scoring cleanly to make it a double for the hooker. 

This extended the lead to ten, 16-6.

With a 40/20 being kicked by Josh Fattore, this created opportunity for the Rams to put attacking pressure on Belconnen, but it was taken away as quickly as it was created due to a knock-on during play.

The Sharks quickly responded to this with a pass to the short side from Zac Patch to lock Jack Milne, and a successful conversion saw the score 22-6. 

In quick succession, it was Zac Patch who blew the attack wide open with a brilliant run down the right-hand side and offloaded to Estin Hunter, who had just come on to the field to make some impact to see the scoreline extend even more, 28-6.

Just when we thought it was all done for the day, the Rams made some quick ball play and Sam Gash slices through the overlap in the Sharks' defence and converts his own try from the sideline, seeing the final score 28-12.