The Sunday Round-up: The weekend in Illawarra sport

Albion Park have quashed any doubters after beating the high-flying Cringila 2-1 in a top-of-the-table battle on Friday evening.

The Lions would have overtaken Park into first on the ladder with a win in front of their home fans, but the Eagles showed why they have been so dominant in 2023.

Question marks were raised about APWE following a 2-0 loss to Olympic last round. However in less than 120 seconds those doubts were quashed when Liam Wille produced a sensational bit of skill down the right to turn his defender where he then blasted the ball into the roof of the net.

Cringila's talisman Peter Simonoski levelled the scores in the second half via the spot, before disaster struck for the Lions.

A miscommunication at the back between goalkeeper Nikola Ristevski and defender James Carli resulted in the latter heading the ball into his own net, beating his on-rushing stopper, which was enough to see the Eagles home.

Corrimal 1 def. Bulli 0

Wollongong United def. Bellambi 4-0

Wollongong Olympic 2 def. Port Kembla 1

Coniston 2 def. Helensburgh 1

Coniston have jumped into the Premier League's top five after claiming a hard-fought 2-1 win over Helensburgh in a windy affair on Saturday.

Despite the poor weather conditions, both sides played positive football and showed plenty of grit at JJ Kelly Park. The hosts jumped out to an early lead through Daniel Loe, before the Thistle equalised via Kade Kinsella just six minutes into the second stanza.

However, Toby Norval's long-range strike nearing the one-hour mark proved the difference as "Cono" notched up their ninth win of the season. The result sees them leap-frog Bulli into fifth position on the IPL table.

"The conditions made it difficult but it was the same for both teams, so we can't use it as an excuse. But we were able to grind out a win and get the three points," Coniston midfielder Lukas Stergiou told the Mercury.

"We know that it's a tight field for the top five, but we're on a roll with a few good wins. We're coming into some tough games, but we need to get the momentum into there and get top five and then into finals."

Dapto 22 def. Thirroul 18

De La Salle 26 def. Corrimal 10

Collegians 26 def. Wests 4

There are new leaders in Illawarra Rugby League after Collegians thumped Wests 26-4 at Sid Parrish Park on Saturday.

A starring hat-trick Sam McCann on the wing saw Collegians get home after going behind early in the match. With the win, Peter Hooper's side have now leapfrogged Wests into first on the table and in doing so, have beaten all their top four opponents away from home in consecutive weeks.

Collegians coach Hooper said whilst he was pleased to be top of the ladder, the team would not rest on their laurels for the remainder of the campaign.

"Nothing is won in July," he said.

"We've still got another round so it can turn right around and I'm sure they'll have some players coming back by the end of the year. But we're not looking too far ahead of ourselves.

"We've got Corrimal next week and they're a good team. If we allow some good footy against us, we won't get the result."

Shoalhaven 26 def. Avondale 14

Despite the harrowing winds the Avondale versus Shoalhaven clash lived up to its blockbuster billing on Saturday, with the visitors holding on to maintain their unbeaten record.

But Shoals had to work hard to secure their 11th straight win of the Illawarra District Rugby Union season against an Avondale side which played the majority of the match a man down.

Netain Siga was given a red-card for knees in the back of Mark Brandon after he scored a try for Shoalhaven.

Shoalhaven prevailed 26-14 against a brave Avondale side, which played 72 minutes of the match with only 14 players.

Bowral 26 def. University 10

Kiama 34 def. Campbelltown 33

Camden 26 drew with Shamrocks 26

Sharks 26 def. Jamberoo 10

The Shellharbour Sharks have continued on their winning way recording their seventh triumph on the trot with a 26-10 victory over the Jamberoo Superoos on Saturday.

The Sharks never looked like losing after racing to a 14-0 lead after just 12 minutes of the game at Kevin Walsh Oval.

The home side Jamberoo hit back with a try of their own but it was Shellharbour who went to the halftime break 26-10 to the good.

There was no points scored in the second half as the wild winds took its toll on Shellharbour and Jamberoo players.

Sharks coach Abed Atallah though was extremely pleased with his team's performance, especially their opening 15 minutes.

"Our first 15 minutes was probably the best 15 minutes of football we've played all year," he said.

"Considering the conditions that we were playing in, it was really good to sit back and watch.

"The attack in the first half was really very flowing considering how windy it was. I was impressed with how good our control was. They have a bit of belief in themselves and had a crack and tried a few things.

"Defensively we probably dropped off a little bit but we were good with the ball.

"Like I said, it was really good to sit back and watch them.

"It was a crucial game today for us coming off a break. It's a tough place to go down and play footy and the conditions were quite tough for both teams to play in. We're just happy to come away with the win."

The high-flying Sharks are now firmly entrenched in the top three but Atallah is refusing to look too far ahead.

The coach said his team were just looking to continue their good form over the remaining five regular season games heading into the finals.

'We're not concentrating too much on how many games in a row we've won," Atallah said.

"We've got another big two-week block coming up where we play Gerringong and Nowra, two other teams that are in the top five. It's important for us to focus on Gerringong first and put our best foot forward against them."

Milton-Ulladulla 32 def. Berry 6

Stingrays 22 def. Warilla 10

Gerringong 24 def. Kiama 18

Nowra-Bomaderry 42 def. APOF 16

UFC featherweight king Alexander Volkanovski made light work of Yair Rodriguez on Sunday, with a technical knock out in round three.

The Wollongong fighter has now successfully defended his world featherweight title five times.

Volkanovski was untroubled in his latest triumph at UFC 290 in Las Vegas, hammering his Mexican opponent Rodriguez for almost three rounds.

The champion dictated early, successfully executing three take downs, and connecting on a number of punches.

Volkanovski was even more aggressive in the second round, especially with his wrestling, controlling the ground and monstering Rodriguez on the ground.

His dangerous opponent was better in the third round but once Volkanovski connected with a punch to Rodriguez's head, he pounced and went to work, leaving the referee with no option but to stop the fight.

Volkanovski is now expected to target a rematch with Islam Makhachev, who he controversially lost to in February.

On that same night Rodriguez won the interim featherweight strap by securing a submission victory over Josh Emmett.

Makhachev is tipped to face Charles Oliveira in defence of lightweight title in October, a win would open the door to a second fight with the Windang warrior Volkanovski.

Volkanovski could also opt to fight promising featherweight Georgian Ilia Topuria who moved to 14-0 with a win over Josh Emmett recently.

CCM 2-2 Wolves

The Wolves were unlucky not to win in a 'cracking' game against the high-flying Central Coast Mariners on Saturday.

The Wolves took the lead thanks to a Takumi Ofuka strike before goals in either side of half-time from CCM's Bailey Brandtman and Jordan Segreto meant David Carney's side had to find their way back into the game.

Jake Trew was the man to score the equaliser but the Wolves could not find a winner in the end.

Wolves left-back Walter Scott said it was a game that they probably should have got more out of.

"It was a cracking game. We played some really good stuff and were disappointed not to win," he said.

"It was sort of typical of what we've done a little bit this season where we just put in great performances and not able to capitalise and they just scored off two moments really.

"Otherwise we had heaps of shots, heaps of opportunity and their goalkeeper made a few good saves and we hit the crossbar. We just couldn't put the ball in the net."

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