Round 8 - Newcastle Hold Onto Top Spot, Mascot Tempers Boil Over in New Zealand

Newcastle have held on to the top spot on the ARTTSL ladder with a comfortable win over second-placed Canberra in the National Capital

The short-priced premiership favourites showed no signs of fatigue in a fast-paced match, even after being forced to spend a cold Canberra night in their bus after a motel mix-up. The Novacastrians led 7-3 and were never troubled as they cruised an 11-5 victory over a disappointing Canberra. The loss sees Canberra drop to fourth of the table behind Gold Coast-Tweed and South New Zealand.

Across the Tasman in Wellington the New Zealand local derby may not have lived up to the hype on the court, with South New Zealand easily crushing North New Zealand 11-5, but it lived up to the hype of the mascots as the Big Pippie and Big Peter Jackson came to blows after the first three points. The Big Pippie allegedly made a comment about Jackson's latest film, The Lovely Bones, being a "gayed-up chick flick". In return Jackson attempted to remove the Big Pippie's outfit to reveal his/her true identity, but was stopped by security. Both mascots were led away and forced to watch the rest of the match from a TV in the stadium security room.

Up in Queensland, in the local derby of the Brisbane satellite cities, third-placed Gold Coast-Tweed easily beach Sunshine Coast after racing to a 5-0 lead and coming away with an 11-4 win. In this case there were no apparent tensions on court despite the exchanges in an earlier press conference between the teams' captains and coaches.

Sydney scored a much-needed win against Perth in front of packed Acer Arena in Sydney which included NSW Premier Kristine Kinninmonth. Kinninmonth was seen to be weeping as Sydney cruised to an 11-3 victory. It was said to be her only good news all week. The win lifts Sydney within two points of the top six.

In Singapore, Illawarra fought desperately to avert yet another loss, but went down to Singapore. After trailing 5-0 and then 10-5, Illawarra rallied and won three of the required five points needed to force extra time, but their first shot in the next point went loosely into the net to secure Singapore an 11-8 win which lifted them into the top 6.

Finally in Brisbane it was a replay of last year's ARTTSL Grand Final against premiers Melbourne, but ironically this time it was a battle to stay in contention for the finals. Brisbane were clearly the better team as they raced to a 7-3 lead, only to lose four straight points as Melbourne drew level at 7-7. The match went to extra time with Brisbane just squeezing out the win 13-11. The loss leaves Melbourne at the bottom of the table with Illawarra on four points, four points out of the top six with three rounds to go. The season is looking all but over for both sides.

At the top of the table, with three rounds to go Newcastle have maintained their 2-point lead over Gold Coast-Tweed and South New Zealand. Canberra slip two points behind on 10 points. Singapore and Sunshine Coast round out the top 6 on 8 points. Sydney, Perth, Brisbane and North New Zealand, all on 6 points, can still hold out hope of making the finals with a few wins. Melbourne and Illawarra are left with the likelihood of missing the finals and more worryingly they face a real risk of relegation to ARTTSL Second Division in 2012.

ROUND 8 RESULTS:
Gold Coast-Tweed 11 d Sunshine Coast 4 (at Tweed Heads)
Newcastle 11 d Canberra 5 (at Canberra)
Sydney 11 d Perth 3 (at Sydney)
Singapore 11 d Illawarra 8 (at Singapore)
South New Zealand 11 d North New Zealand 5 (at Wellington)
Brisbane 13 d Melbourne 11 (at Melbourne)

ROUND 9 DRAW:
Perth v Canberra (in Perth)
Newcastle v Sydney (in Newcastle)
South New Zealand v Singapore (in Christchurch)
Illawarra v North New Zealand (in Wollongong)
Sunshine Coast v Melbourne (in Sunshine Coast)
Brisbane v Gold Coast-Tweed (in Brisbane)