Mounties have ended the unbeaten run of the Blacktown Workers Sea Eagles with a solid 26-6 win in the Intrust Super Premiership match played at Lottoland in Round 4.
Winger Sitiveni Moceidreke scored 18 points with two tries and five goals, and deposed Canberra Raiders half Blake Austin put the icing on the cake with the last try of the match, Mounties were too good for a Workers Sea Eagles outfit that did not lift to the level of their massive win over Newtown the previous week.
The visitors dominated early possession on the back of receiving the first five penalties of the match, but could not convert the early possession into points.
The Workers Sea Eagles then took full advantage on their first visit inside the Mounties 20 metre area in the 10th minute.
Lock Taniela Paseka was held up short of Mounties’ goal line, before halfback Joey Lussick burrowed over from dummy half on the next tackle to score the opening try. Lussick converted his own try for the Workers Sea Eagles to lead 6-0.
Mounties struck back seven minutes later when Moceidreke finished off a neat left side blind side play to score the opening try. Moceidreke converted from touch to lock the game up at 6-apiece.
The match then developed into an arm wrestle for the next 15 minutes as both sides worked hard in defence – with Austin having a solid first half.
Mounties winger Mikaele Ravalawa was then placed on report for a late hit on Blacktown second rower Lewis Brown in the 29th minute that saw Brown leave the field for a concussion test.
From the resulting penalty, Blacktown back rower Jack Gosiewski burst clear from a well-timed Manase Fainu pass – only to drop the ball with only the fullback to beat.
Mounties then made the most of a repeat set of six seven minutes from half time when a clever Jarrad Kennedy pass sent Mulga five eighth Cooper Bambling over to score under the posts. Moceidreke converted from in front to give Mounties a 12-6 lead at half-time.
Mounties fullback Brad Abbey was held up in goal early in the second-half – helping his side to earn a double repeat set from a goal line drop and an ensuing penalty in the 45th minute.
From the double repeat set, a simple left side raid saw Moceidreke score his second try in the corner, almost untouched. The winger pushed the touch line conversion wide and still Ryan Carr’s men led 16-6.
Both sides had their opportunities over the next 20 minutes without adding to the score, with Austin dropping a couple of simple passes on the end of some promising Mounties backline movements.
In the 66th minute, Moceidreke slotted a 20-metre penalty goal from a stripping penalty to extend the side’s lead to 18-6.
After Mounties prop Liam Knight dropped the restart to open the door for the home side, Paseka was held up in goal from the ensuing scrum set - the Workers’ last opportunity to get back into the game.
With seven minutes to play, Moceidreke landed his second penalty goal from 36 metres out after another ruck infringement to give Mounties a match winning 20-6 lead.
Austin then recovered from his earlier errors to score a brilliant individual try against a tiring defence with four minutes to play to make sure of the two competition points.
Moceidreke landed his fifth goal from six attempts to round out the 26-6 scoreline.
Mounties 26 (S Moceidreke 2, C Bambling, B Austin tries; S Moceidreke 3 goals) def Blacktown Workers Sea Eagles 6 (J Lussick try; J Lussick goal)
