Beasties hold off a patchy West Harbour performance

West Harbour remain winless in 2020 after going down to Eastern Suburbs in Round Two of the Shute Shield season.

Easts secured their first win of 2020 at Woollahra Oval, keeping the Pirates tryless until late in the match.

There was early concern for the Pirates three minutes in, when former Wallaby Rod Davies left the field after a collision with East fullback Dan Donato.

Davies was ruled out soon after following a head injury assessment and played no further part in the match.

Moments later, East flyhalf Nicholas Holton put the home side ahead 3-0 after a strong carry from Vunipola Fifita had West Harbour on the back foot and forced the penalty.

After a brief stalemate between the sides, hosted predominantly in the centre of the field, Easts were awarded their first try of the match through backrower Charlie Smith.

Easts were rewarded for their silky hands close to the line, Smith on the end of a Jeremy Williams offload to crash over for the home side.

Minutes later, Easts were over again after a quick tap from skipper Jack Grant caught the Pirates napping and allowed Richard Woolf to coast over for the Beasties second.

West Harbour were handed a golden opportunity late in the halfhowever, as an Easts dropped ball close to the line gave the Pirates a centre field scrum only meters out.

Unfortunately, the Pirates were unable to execute as a knock on from Liam Moylan kept the visitors tryless at half time.

The second half began much the same as the first, as constant Easts ball security and strong West Harbour defence limited much of the play to the middle third.

After coming on the replace the injured Davies, Tavite Gadeisuva was a standout for the Pirates on both ends of the field.

Gadeisuva led the match in breakdown turnovers and consistently shut down the Beasties dangerous outside backs.

Despite this, Easts again scored tries in quick succession, as Samuel Shires and Jordan Jackson-Hope crossed to extend the home sides lead to 29-3.

What followed was the Pirates most promising and entertaining portion of the match, as young guns Pat Pellegrini and Elliot Turner were brought on and combined well with former Australian Sevens star Josh Coward.

Both Pellegrini and Turner looked electrifying in attack, getting the Pirates on the front foot and taking advantage of a tiring Easts defence.

After repeated Easts penalties close to their line, a quick tap from Turner caught the home side on the back foot and the young scrumhalf was awarded with the Pirates first try of the season.

Easts ran out the match comfortable winners, with another late try to Henry Paterson seeing the final score 36-10.

Both teams will be in action again in Round Three, with Easts set to take on Warringah as West Harbour travel to T G Millner to verse Eastwood.

Eastwood were victorious 46-11 over the Hunter Wildfires this week and will be looking to impress in their first home game of 2020 against the Pirates.

West Harbour are set to welcome back star breakaway Francis Ieremia, as Mark Gudmunson and his men continue the search for their first win this season.