Week 16 of the Shute Shield continues where their match of the round today on Free-to-air is between the Hunter Wildfires v Gordon Highlanders at the No.2 Sportsground in Newcastle.
It was Gordon who had an almighty start with a huge lead up front while Hunter added just the one TRY off Ryan Louwrens going into half-time, 7-20. Now there has been some more tries between the two teams later on, but it didn’t change much though when it comes to the result – with Hunter being messy through their attack while Gordon continued to shine including a sensational TRY right at full-time 28-44.
How good was that reserve Gordon back rower in the No.20 shirt when he scored a TRY straight away when he got the ball from up high & then runs with it where no one couldn’t stop him at the last kick restart. Gordon is 4th on the Shute Shield ladder now where they are ahead of Hunter by just a single point (51-50) with two weeks of regular season action to go.
Gotta love Harrison Goddard in the way he operates at No.9 for Gordon. His kicking game was brilliant when looking to get out of trouble or finding his side’s way up high & can also help finish it off on the counter as well – no wonder why the Brumbies wanted him so bad away from the Waratahs to replace Western Force bound Nic White. Speaking of the West, there’s someone who is from Bunbury in WA & is currently playing for Gordon in the centres at 13 named Kainoa Gudgeon. Not only he can back it up with pace while showing some steel in attack, but he was also tested well as part of his side’s scrambled defense where they did well to stop Hunter’s messy attacking line in its tracks.
And lastly, hats off to Nathan De Thierry with his spotless conversion kicks that earned them the extras & how he launches the Hunter attack with the ball at No.15. His impact has played a huge role in some of the Hunter tries that saw them find their way through the gate, particularly in the 2nd 40. However, that kind of messy finishing v a tight Gordon defense was sadly wasn’t his day today.
