The Glebe Dirty Reds featured at St Marys Leagues Stadium on Saturday afternoon for Round 8 of their season this week, while the Ipswich Jets and North Sydney Bears experienced bye.
Despite a competitive second half, Glebe’s Ron Massey Cup outfit were defeated 36-14 by the St Marys Saints at St Mary’s Leagues Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
The hosts started strong, piling on two converted tries to take a handy lead before a nifty 40/20 from halfback Connor Garetty presented Glebe with dangerous field position, resulting in a try to winger Mick Pearsall, his third of the season.
St Mary’s responded right on the cusp of the interval to restore their lead, sending Glebe to the sheds with a mountain of work to do in the second half.
A try to hooker Michael Coleman early in the second half bought the Dirty Reds right back into the contest, with points for both sides drying up in the middle of the half, before St Marys extended their lead with 16 minutes remaining.
Centre Tyrone Phillips crossed with 10 minutes left on the clock, giving Glebe a glimmer of hope before it was snuffed out by two late tries to Saints, who ran out comfortable victors. Glebe will look to return to their strong early season form when they take on Mounties at Aubrey Keech Reserve next Saturday afternoon.
It was a similar story for the Sydney Shield Dirty Reds, who also fell to the St Marys Saints on Saturday Afternoon away from home.
Despite two sin bins for St Marys, Glebe couldn’t prevent the hosts from running in eight tries to the three of their own, resulting in a 46-16 defeat.
Lock Dean Kulevski and forward Salesi Foketi both recorded their first tries of the season, while second rower Shaiquan Terekia crossed for his second of the year in the defeat.
Glebe showed some impressive fight to prevent the hosts from scoring on several occasions in the second half, but the ladder leaders proved too strong for the Dirty Reds, who will look to bounce back next Saturday afternoon against Mounties at Aubrey Keech Reserve.
