Discipline costs Magpies as Bears hold on for victory

A strong second half was not enough for the Western Suburbs Magpies today, who have gone down 18-6 to the North Sydney Bears in wet conditions today at North Sydney Oval.

Trailing 16-0 at half-time, Soni Luke's try early in the second half threatened to put the Magpies back in the contest but ill-discipline in both attack and defence proved too much to overcome in the end as the Bears held on to record a 12-point win.

Both teams will have the week off in Round 9 with the annual Residents game, before Western Suburbs return to the action in Round 10 take on the Bulldogs.

In a dominant opening half from the Bears, with John Tuivati, Bernard Lewis and Egan Butcher all crossing to give the hosts a commanding 16-0 advantage.

With a flurry of errors and penalties against them, nothing was going the way of the Magpies, with disallowed tries to captain Kauri Aupouri and Tommy Talau right on the stroke of half-time seeing the visitors trail by 16 points at the break. 

Luke's solo effort in the 53rd minute reduced the gap slightly as the Magpies began to build pressure in the second half but it was more of the same in the end as poor handling and discipline took the Bears off the hook and allowed them to ice the game with a penalty goal to Brock Lamb three minutes from time.

North Sydney Bears 18 (Tuivaiti, Lewis, Butcher tries; Lamb 3/4 goals) def. Western Suburbs Magpies 6 (Luke tries; Momirovski 1/1 goals)