The Illawarra Cutters defeated the North Sydney Bears 26-12 at North Sydney Oval on Saturday.
In windy and often wet conditions, the away side were able to capitalise on their chances better to get the two points and push themselves into third position.
After a tight first twenty minutes, it was Illawarra who scored first through Kiti Glymin with a play from left to right seeing the winger score in the corner.
Ten minutes later the Cutters were in again from a try by Chris Lewis who charged and barged through the pack to burst over the stripe.
However, just before half-time the Bears hit back with a try of their own through second-rower Chris Grevsmuhl.
Late inclusion Bryson Goodwin converted to trail 8-6 at half-time.
The home side took the lead when Luke Burgess barged over from close range in the 45th minute.
Goodwin had a fairly easy conversion for a 12-8 lead.
In the 56th minute the Cutters regained the lead after a spectacular try.
A break and offload from Chris Lewis saw the ball go through a pair of hands before Joel Johnson scored next to the posts.
Sam Duggan converted his first for the afternoon to lead 14-12.
Five minutes from full-time the Cutters extended their lead with a Kyle Eather try.
A 40/20 from Illawarra put them on the attack and Eather sliced through to score.
Kyle Stanley converted his first for the game for a 20-12 lead.
With the last play of the game, Chris Lewis scored his second try for the game and capped his and Illawarra’s great performance.
Kyle Stanley finished off the afternoon with another conversion and gave the Cutters a 26-12 victory.
Illawarra Cutters 26. Tries: Glymin, Lewis (2), Johnson, Eather. Goals: Duggan (1/1) Stanley (2/4)
North Sydney Bears 12. Tries: Grevsmuhl, Burgess. Goals: Goodwin (2/2).
