It’s been the best of the props earlier this afternoon and Sateki Latu tops out the list on the tighthead front row at No.3, after he scored a hat-trick of tries for the Warringah Rats. He has tremendous attacking ability when you marry up with the physicality & pace that saw Latu rip up the (Manly) Marlins into shreds. He responded well to the Marlins early lead when the (Warringah) Rats chose to go towards the far left short side, before Wes Thomas found a gap & called Latu with the quick offload to get the job done. And no one from the Marlins couldn’t stop him when he scored another two tries before he stopped them in its tracks defensively later in the 2nd half, which played a huge role towards his team’s win past full-time.
The next Warringah Rats standout player to look out for is Andrew Davies, who plays on the second row/lock in the No.5 shirt. He took great care of the (Manly) Marlins having kept them quiet that led to winning penalties/turnovers defensively over to his team by the referee. Not only that, he can also help out going forward when he created some damage through the Marlins defensive wall, as well as backing up the ruck. The ample opportunities being given with the ball before forming a scrambled defense upped the pressure for the Marlins to get the done & then blow it up; That reflects his all-round ability to deliver what the Rats team wanted in the end.
And Ivan Fepuleai rounds off the Top 3 where he was outstanding with two tries in the first half at loosehead prop for the Marlins. He was blessed with his team’s excellent start earlier on, such as the patience and communication needed to get the ball rolling. That way, he didn’t have any problem finishing off as long as he dived in down low. But then they couldn’t keep up the momentum when it comes to the 2nd 40 as the Marlins just couldn’t find a way to extend their lead before they were rushed to get back on track under pressure. A mix of lost penalties/handling errors/turnovers came into play – including the lopsided attacking shape – while he had an early mark by watching on from the bench.
