Easts, Manly, Warringah and Western Sydney are undefeated after two rounds of the 2024 Shute Shield season, while Norths and Hunter also claimed their first wins over the weekend.
Here’s a few points we noticed from round two.
Most Shute Shield fans were expecting ‘penalty-fests’ in the opening rounds of the season, but so far that hasn’t been the case.
In 2023, there was an average of 10.1 penalties per match and despite the introduction of the new tackle laws, which lowers the legal tackle height to below the sternum, this season that number has only increased to 11.5.
An extra penalty per match seems like a pretty fair trade off for keeping players safe and credit must go to both the clubs and the referees for the hard work they’ve put in to adjust in the lead up to and in the opening rounds of the season.
After two rounds, Easts and West Harbour find themselves in the naughty corner. Easts have conceded 10 tackle penalties in the opening fortnight, while West Harbour have conceded nine.
On the other side of the spectrum, Eastwood, Hunter and Sydney Uni have been penalised for tackles just three times in 160 minutes of rugby.
One positive impact of the new tackle laws that was very evident over the weekend was the increase in offloads across the Shute Shield.
Manly scored a brilliant try that featured five offloads early in the second half against Sydney Uni while the Two Blues and West Harbour clash was another absolute cracker, with both sides moving the ball incredibly well.
Josh Holmes’ reign as head coach at Warringah couldn’t have gotten off to a better start with two wins from two matches.
The Rats grounded out a victory over Souths at Forshaw in round one, then shocked everyone by beating a Randwick team on Saturday who scored 10 tries in round one against Hunter.
Warringah look to be a very different team this season.
Wasn’t it great to see Norths and Eastwood play at Cowra, one of the best country rugby fields in Australia, over the weekend. From all reports, both clubs really enjoy getting out to Central West NSW each year and want to make it a permanent fixture.
Hunter also took their clash against Souths on Saturday night to Woy Woy, which is a great initiative and was well received by the local rugby community on the Central Coast.
