A 12-man Stingrays of Shellharbour secured one of the club's "best wins ever" in beating Group Seven powerhouse Warilla Lake South Gorillas 30-18 on Sunday.
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The "courageous" victory came despite the visitors playing with one man less for 73 of the 80 minutes of the game at Cec Glenholmes Oval.
Stingrays lock and captain Keiran Rankmore was sent off for what the referee deemed was a headbutt on Warilla prop Aaron Henry.
Henry was marched for 10-minutes for retaliating.
Warilla's other prop Guy Rosewarn was also sent to the sin-bin for 10 minutes midway through the first half for back chatting to the referee.
Gorillas coach Troy Grant admitted his side's ill discipline and poor handling cost them dearly.
He added the Stingrays also lifted noticeably after their skipper was sent off.
"Every time a team goes down a man they seem to get a lift, which they did. They also got some quality calls as well and we were pretty ordinary," Grant said. "We were well off today unfortunately.
"There was plenty of dropped ball and ill discipline cost us. They got plenty of 50/50s which also didn't help. We were well below and so was the officiating."
The Stingrays led pretty much from start to finish, and were the first to cross for a try through winger Jayden Harris.
The winger did exceptionally well running clear of his defenders then kicking over the fast approaching fullback and regathering to score a great solo try.
Taiioalo Vaivai had kicked a penalty goal earlier and after converting the try had put the Stingrays 8-0 up.
Warilla soon responded with a converted try of their own to halfback Lleyton Hughes but by halftime the visitors jumped out to a 16-6 lead courtesy of a try to Matthew Delbanco.
Warilla came out strong in the second half and actually took the lead at 18-16 on the back of two tries. But the lead was short-lived with the Stingrays scoring the next three tries though Sam Latu, Liam Scott and Vaivai.
Stingrays co-coach Brad Reh praised his team's resilience and never say die attitude.
"It is a massive effort. To say how proud we are of the boys to play with 12 men for 73 minutes is huge," he said.
"They are a top two side and to beat them at home with 12 men is massive.
"Our players have just got a lot of belief in themselves at the moment. They know they can turn up and play against good sides.
"As we've seen the way they defended that second half, they just keep turning up, that's why we won that one on the back of that."
The win sees the Sringrays stay fourth with a 7-4 win/loss record.
Warilla also maintain second spot on the ladder after losing for only the second time in 11 games.
Elsewhere Jamberoo thrashed Albion Park-Oak Flats 68-0, Berry Shoalhaven Heads beat Nowra 20-0, Kiama smashed Milton Ulladulla 30-0 and league leaders Gerringong hammered Shellharbour 48-4.
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Agron Latifi
Wollongong born and bred. I love reporting about the Illawarra region and have been doing it for more than 20 years. I've moved into sport recently after covering the education round for the last five plus years for the Illawarra Mercury. It's been a great pleasure.
Wollongong born and bred. I love reporting about the Illawarra region and have been doing it for more than 20 years. I've moved into sport recently after covering the education round for the last five plus years for the Illawarra Mercury. It's been a great pleasure.
