Two tries from winger Nathan Hunt helped Cottesloe grind out a tough 22 - 11 win over Palmyra in a physical encounter at Harvey Field on Saturday afternoon.

The Seagulls were a much improved side from the one that was powered off the ball by Nedlands in round one and were especially impressive on defence allowing Palmyra to cross only once.

“I was happy with our physicality in the game,” said Cottesloe coach Ian Fowler.

“Quite often we're not physical enough but we got a few good hits in, especially from our number seven Jarret Budworth and that got the guys fired up which was good to see.”

Cottesloe were first on the scoreboard just three minutes in after a move orchestrated by scrumhalf, and contracted Emirates Western Force player, Mark Swanepoel, who broke through the middle and was tackled just short of the try line.

The ball was quickly spread to the left and Hunt, the competition’s leading try scorer last season, didn’t need a second invitation to dive across the line.

Palmyra was quick to strike back through the boot of Sam Wills after Cottesloe infringed at the ruck and the lead was cut to two.

Ten minutes later a penalty allowed Cottesloe to set up an attacking line in Palmyra's 22 and they made the most of the opportunity to spread the ball along the back line creating an overlap. Just when it looked like they would dive over in the corner Peter Saunders intercepted the final pass and broke down the field.

A couple of passes later and the ball was coming back the other way after another intercept, this time from Cottesloe’s Antini Brown, and after some slick passing the ball found itself in the hands of Swanepoel who put in a little chip kick ahead.

Nick Haining was the first to get to the ball and pounced for a score right next to the posts while Cloete added the extras as Cott stretched their lead to nine.

Another penalty to Paly allowed Wills to cut the lead back to six before winger Myer King collected a loose ball and broke strongly through the middle eluding a couple of tacklers along the way. King was eventually bought to ground but the visitors pressed the ball to the left and Himi Marr crossed in the corner untouched. Wills missed the tough conversion.

Palmyra had a chance to go into the break ahead when they were awarded a penalty in Cottesloe's 22 but elected to go for a scrum rather than taking the easy points on offer. The decision looked like it may pay dividends only for Paly to knock on a metre out from the line.

“The turning point of the match was when we had them on the rack just before half time and we didn't show enough patience and lost the ball forward,” Palmyra coach John Taylor said.

“When you've got them on the rack like that you should score. We were impatient and we paid the price.”

Cottesloe started the second half in the same way they started the first, scoring almost straight away after number eight Haani broke the line and drew the last defender before passing to Hunt who crossed for his second try. Cloete kicked true from the sideline making the score 19 - 11.

“We didn't start well and they scored straight away through Hunt and then the same thing happened at the start of the second half and we were playing catch up the whole game,” Taylor added.

Cottesloe were rewarded for consistently keeping the ball in Paly's half on the hour mark when they won a penalty and Cloete put it over from right out in front extending Cottesloe’s lead to 10.

Palmyra spent the last five minutes of the game camped in the Seagull’s 22 but some stout defence held them out and prevented the visitors from stealing a bonus point at the death.

“I'm really happy with the boys,” said Fowler.

“They were saying in the circle after the game that they're starting to play for each other and really enjoying themselves out there.

“Obviously we've got a lot of areas to improve but defensively we're pretty happy. Their only try was a breakaway score and we held Kalamunda to zero last week. Under fatigue we were able to maintain our structure and the chat was still there right at the end which was really pleasing.””

Taylor was also impressed with Cottesloe's defence and felt his side didn't front up physically on the day.

“They were great on defence today especially in the second half,” he said.

“It was a very physical contest, there was a lot of physicality in the game and they were just a wee bit better than us and on days like that you've just got be gracious and accept it.

“At times you could see our game plan working but our major problem is that we haven't had the same team on the paddock. We've got to get some continuity in terms of selections and just fix up a few things, especially the first five minutes of each half as we tend to fall behind early and most games we've been playing catch up.”

In other matches, a fired up Associates took their frustrations out on Kalamunda with a whopping 69 – 0 win, Nedlands staked their claim as the best in the competition by some way after disposing of second placed Perth Bayswater by 46 points while UWA defeated Wanneroo 24 – 19 and Wests Subiaco snuck home by two over Rockingham 46 – 44.

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