Round 7 - Lead Pack Emerges With 4 Rounds to Go

The top four sides have asserted themselves as ARTTSL Premiership contenders, all winning in round 7 and forming a clear leading group with four rounds remaining.

Newcastle remains two points clear at the top on 12 points, followed by Canberra, Gold Coast-Tweed and South New Zealand on 10. The Sunshine Coast is chasing close behind on 8 points. The remaining 7 sides follow on 6 and 4 points, suggesting there should be a close scramble for the last few top six spots.

Singapore crushed visitors Melbourne 11-4 in Sigapore in a straight-foward match in which the premiers showed very little for to be happy about.

North New Zealand pushed visitors Gold Coast-Tweed to the end in Auckland in a see-sawing encounter that ended in an 11-4 win to the home side.

Illawarra hosted Canberra and a huge crowd turned up to try to push them to perform better than many recent performances, but again they were beaten comprehensively 11-4.

South New Zealand and Sydney played a close match in Christchurch up to 8-8, before Sydney collapsed to go down 11-8.

Competition leaders Newcastle led visitors Brisbane 4-0 early, only for Brisbane to level at 4-4. Again Brisbane came back from deficits of 7-5 to 7-7 and 9-7 to 9-9. The pattern remained to the end with Newcaslte winning 12-10 in extra time.

Finally Perth hosted the Sunshine coast. The match was close up to 9-9 before Sunshine Coast won the final two points to secure an 11-9 win.

Round 8 promises to be exciting and crucial as some top sides will go head-to-head - In a top-of-the-table clash, leaders Newcastle will play second-placed Canberra in the National Capital. The match is a wrestle for the top spot as Canberra go into the match with better for-and-against than Newcastle, so if they pick up the two points they will move to P1.

Meanwhile third-placed Gold Coast-Tweed will host fifth-placed Sunshine Coast.

Round 8 also sees the New Zealand local derby as North New Zealand host South New Zealand in National Capital Wellington.
Team mascots the Big Pippie and the Big Peter Jackson have both been talking up the match and are rumoured to have developed a dislike for each other which could boil over during the match.


ROUND 7 RESULTS:
Singapore 11 d Melbourne 4 (at Singapore)
Gold Coast-Tweed 11 d North New Zealand 9 (at Auckland)
Canberra 11 d Illawarra 4 (at Wollongong)
South New Zealand 11 d Sydney 8 (at Queenstown)
Newcastle 12 d Brisbane 10 (at Newcastle)
Sunshine Coast 11 d Perth 9 (at Perth)


ROUND 8 DRAW:
Gold Coast-Tweed v Sunshine Coast (in Tweed Heads)
Canberra v Newcastle (in Canberra)
Sydney v Perth (in Sydney)
Singapore v Illawarra (in Singapore)
North New Zealand v South New Zealand (in Wellington)
Melbourne v Brisbane (in Melbourne)