Balmain demolish Norths

Balmain put in yet another strong performance to defeat the North Sydney Bears by 46 points to 26 at Leichhardt oval on the weekend.

Ben Black scored the first hit against his old club when he crossed in the corner in the 6th minute but Balmain responded almost immediately when Troy Robinson put 5/8th Justin McKay into a gap to score and Luke Milton converted handing the Tigers a 2 point lead.

10 minutes later Balmain scored the most unlikely try of the season so far when a Joel Caine penalty kick failed to find the sideline and was plucked out of the air by winger Milton. Milton offloaded to Jeff Lima forced his way through the Norths line to score.

5 minutes later Leigh Bowman crossed and Milton converted bringing the score to 16 points to 4. Centre Kevin Henderson scored for Norths in the 30th minute however Clint Courtney was unable to add the extras and Balmain retained a comfortable 12 point lead.

3 minutes out from halftime up and coming centre Dene Halatau scored for Balmain and Milton again converted, the two sides going into halftime with the scoreboard showing the home side ahead 22 points to 8.

Bowman crossed for his second try soon after the break and Milton made it 3 from 4, Balmain's lead stretching to 16 points. Norths followed with two quick tries courtesy of Courtney and Ngawini bringing them to within 8 points of Balmain but any hopes of a comeback were quickly squashed when Steve Trindall scored in the 61st minute and Joel Caine followed in the next set of six.

Norths scored their final try of the match in the 71st minute and Courtney kicked his first goal of the match bringing the scored to 40 points to 26. With four minutes to go Frank Samia intercepted and ran 95 metres to score, Milton converted, completing a near perfect afternoon with the boot and the final score read 46 - 26 in favour of the home side.