Gorillas still in finals race

A STUNNING second half performance from an enthusiastic Warilla-Lake South Gorillas outfit kept their finals hopes alive with a 44-20 win over Berry in round 16.

The Magpies looked on target for a win when they led 20-8 at half-time, but 36 unanswered points in the second half left the home side shattered.

Warilla second rower Aaron Henry scored four tries for the visitors, three coming in the first ten minutes of the second half.

Berry raced to a 10-nil lead before some soft defence from the Magpies let Henry in for his first try.

Gorillas' fullback Brad Hancock finished off a sharp movement for 10-8 midway through the first half.

Berry countered with two tries to stretch their lead to 20-8 at halftime.

Warilla raced to a 26-20 lead in the second half; with Henry in the right place to dive on two loose balls and a Josh Guyatt kick.

When Berry coach Trent Burns was sin binned by Nick McInerney, Guyatt for 28-20.

A shell-shocked Berry then had chances but the Warilla big men began to run riot.

Prop Damien Paulissen crossed for a 32-20 lead, then his front row partner Ben Harvey proved unstoppable close to the line making it 38-20.

Replacement Beau Henry then rounded out the scoring for an incredible 44-20 win.

Guyatt was superb for the Gorillas, expertly guided his side around the field in the second half, his accurate kicking game proving the key, while Henry, Paullisen and Harvey simply proved too hard to handle.

At Centenary Field, Albion Park flexed their collective muscle with a 48-12 win over Milton-Ulladulla.

The Eagles sprang to life after holding a 10-8 lead at the break, scoring six tries in the second stanza.

Milton drew first blood through a penalty goal before Eagles' half Adam Bezzina crossed after clever interplay with Simon Pimanovs.

The Eagles pulled further ahead after Wade Walsh released Sean Jenkins, who drew the Milton cover before finding Trent Geary, who scored out wide. Jenkins converted to hand the hosts a 10-2 lead.

Milton looked back in the game after a well-worked try that trimmed the margin to 10-8 at the break.

An Albion Park blitzkrieg after the break, including tries to Pimanovs, Bezzina and Jenkins ended the contest and handed the hosts a 26-8 lead.

The shell-shocked Milton side then fumbled in front of their own posts and from the ensuing scrum, Bezzina found Walsh, who calmly stepped back inside two players to touch down and extend the lead to 32-8.

Milton replied to make the score 32-12 but that was a close as they got in the final 20 minutes as the Eagles ran in three more tries, to Damien Ingram, Dean Gray and Jenkins.

Steve Butfield, Pimanovs, Jenkins and Walsh starred in a red-hot Eagles' outfit.

Meanwhile, Shellharbour took a massive step towards the finals with a 42-10 win over Batemans Bay at Ron Costello Oval.

Batemans Bay's scored the first two tries to lead 10-nil before Shellharbour struck back with centre Josh Champion doubling around Shane Wills to score in the corner.

Two minutes later Shellharbour were in again when a blind side raid, from a scrum 15 metres out, saw winger Josh Cuthbert score in the opposite corner.

The Bay led 12-8 at halftime after a penalty goal late in the first half.

Shellharbour clicked into gear in the second half when Gary Breakspear broke the Batemans Bay line to score. Cuthbert completed his hat-trick to extend Shellharbour's lead to 22- 12.

Shellharbour then piled on the points with Josh Champion, Gary Breakspear and Mark Mooney adding further tries.

Gerringong thumped Nowra 68-10 to complete the round's play.