Woden fight off Sharks comeback for an important win on the road

The Woden Valley Rams have continued their red-hot form, coming away with an important 36-22 victory over the Belconnen United Sharks on Saturday afternoon.

Rams halfback Jesse Taws was instrumental in his sides' victory, which sees them remain atop the premiership ladder.

This unfortunately puts an end to the Sharks finals hopes with only two weeks remaining in the competition. 

The Sharks starved the Rams of the ball early, earning themselves four consecutive attacking sets to begin the contest.

Although, the first-placed Rams defence stood tall and held the Belconnen side out.

The Rams made the most of their first attacking set, forcing a repeat set off the boot of halfback Jesse Taws.

Lock-forward James Desaxe was the first to strike, fooling the defence with some footwork to score under the sticks to open the scoring. Afemui converted to give the visitors a six-nil lead after ten minutes.

Belconnen were given another opportunity down Woden's end only five minutes later.

The Sharks strike left-centre Tevita Aroha-Tuinauvai linked with Regan Carr to set him flying down the touchline, but Lachlan Eveston was on the spot to make a great covering tackle to send Carr over the sideline.

Jesse Taws was able to get his side on the front-foot again, when he picked off a chip kick from Sharks five-eighth Matthew Woolnough.

Woden's momentum got them over the line again, when Taws dropped backrower Aiden Kawiri under, who proved far too powerful and scored under the sticks. Afemui converted to extend their lead to 12-nil with 20 minutes remaining.

The Sharks continued to knock on the door of the Woden defence, where they'd held strong all game until they eventually broke.

Fullback Darcy Leadbitter finished off some great attacking shape on the right edge for the Sharks to open the scoring for the home side. The conversion was waved away which held the scores to 12-4.

Woden hit straight back only two minutes later through backrower Desaxe, who broke free off the scrum and sprinted 50 metres to score his second of the afternoon. Afemui added the extras to take a commanding 18-4 lead.

The Sharks gave away a penalty 38 metres out right in-front of the uprights, where Afemui converted the penalty goal on halftime, to extend their lead to 20-4.

Woden picked up right where they left off in the first half, maximising their opportunities down the Belconnen United end.

Rams centre Michael Geiger stepped off a right foot and beat some lazy Sharks' defence to open the scoring in the second half. Afemui converted to extend the lead to 26-4.

The Sharks got one right back when Zac Patch ran it on last and put in a late kick which took a deflection. The ball bounced right back into the hands of Patch, who advanced the position to score. Reagan Carr converted to close the gap to 26-10.

The Sharks begun initiating their comeback, similar to their match against the Blues a fortnight ago, running in back to back tries in a matter of minutes.

Zac Patch took the ball to the line and used some great footwork to run around the Woden defence, where he linked up with Reagan Carr who finished off a great try. Carr converted his own try to close the gap to ten points.

The Sharks attacked that right edge defence of Woden again and found a gap where Aroha-Tuinauvai struck through. He looked to link up with Carr again but he was run off the ball which resulted in a penalty.

The next set, Gideon Afemui was dismissed from the field from what looked to be foul play. Woden would be forced to play with 12 men for the next ten minutes.

Woden looked to be under immense pressure, until halfback Jesse Taws stood up and found touch for a 40/20 to give his side some important field position.

This gave Woden the momentum they needed, where Taws fooled the Sharks defence, shaping to kick but playing out the back where Nick Baldwin finished off a beautiful try in the far corner. Taws converted to extend the lead to 32-16.

Baldwin crossed for his second in just as many minutes off the back of some great hands down that left edge. Taws' conversion was unsuccessful to hold onto a 36-16 lead with ten minutes to go.

The Sharks hit straight back through that Patch and Carr connection. Carr finished off a well-weighted grubber from the halfback to score in the corner. He converted his own try again to close the gap to 36-22.

But it was all too late as the Rams managed to control the final minutes to come away with the important 36-22 victory on the road.