Sydney Uni roared back with a powerful 58-8 victory over the Penrith City Outlaws on Saturday afternoon at the UWS Nepean Hockey Field. 

The win featured a dominating display by the Lions ground game.  Stung by their lacklustre effort against the Pirates, the offensive line of Ben Dodd, David Thode, David Allen, Piotr Milewski and Paul Edwards, with Andrew Matthews, Aaron Carbury and David Kong supporting, responded with a commanding performance against the physical Outlaws defence.  Behind the hardworking line, Matt Croasdaile and Liam Erby delivered a knockout one-two punch.  Croasdaile ran for 164 yards and  3 touchdowns and Erby for 131 yards and 3 touchdowns.  The Outlaws simply had no answer to the power and speed of the Lions ground game. 

The game started with the Outlaws trying to catch the Lions out with a fake punt.  They may have liked that one over again, as the pass fell incomplete and, four plays later, Matt Croasdaile was in the endzone for the first of his three touchdowns. 

Croasdaile had broken off a 25 yard run on the first drive but went one better on the next, carving out a 42 yard run through the heart of the Outlaws defence.  Kelen then hit tight end James Gifford on a 23 yard pass down to the 1 yard line and Croasdaile burrowed through the line for a 12-0 lead. 

The Lions defence was controlling the line of scrimmage and would only give up 16 yards on the ground for the day.  Defensive linemen Jay Bottom, Fady Aoun, Chady Aoun, Troy Carrick, Chris Fung and Jock Purtle kept the pressure on, while the linebacking corps of Nick Baldwin, Greg Wernecke, Joe Lim, Ian Triganza, Justin Woo and Kieran Deale never stopped pursuing to the ball. 

The Outlaws countered by trying for quick hitting pass patterns and, although hitting a few early completions, they never seriously threatened.  In the secondary, David Bourke, Mark Mamo, Leigh Louey-Gung, Kiernan Dorney, David Garcia and John Tamanivalu kept the passing game in check, only allowing 10 completions of 30 attempts and restricting the Outlaws to just 51 passing yards. 

With the defence gaining the upper hand, it was not long before field position lead to another score.  The Lions defence pinned the Outlaws to their 6 yards line and the punt only made it to the 22 yard line.  Four run plays later and Liam Erby had scored and converted for a 19-0 lead. 

The Outlaws then put together their best drive of the half, converting on a 4th and 4 at mid-field, only to end up having to punt the ball away for a touchback.  With less than a minute left in the half, the Lions had the ball on their 15 yard line.  Erby started the play inside his left end, Mac Shine, and followed the block of left tackle, Ben Dodd, upfield.  Angling behind the downfield block of receiver, Mathew Freeman, Erby took the play to the Lions sideline and all the way for a 65 yard touchdown run.  The play was a back breaker for the Outlaws and moved the score out to 25-0.  The half ended with David Bourke intercepting a tipped Outlaws' pass and returning it to mid-field. 

The Lions were all business in the second half.  The Outlaws were caught not getting a punt away again on 4th down, handing the ball over on their 14 yard line.  Kelen found Gifford with a pass down the middle for a score and a 32-0 lead.

That quickly turned to 32-8 after the Outlaws returned the kick-off to the 4 yard line.  The Outlaws' fullback broke the outside containment to score in the corner on the next play.  The Outlaws gambled again, trying an onside kick after the score, but only succeeded in handing the ball over on their 26 yard line.  The Lions offence quickly had the ball in the endzone, Erby taking it in from 6 yards out to move the score to 39-8. 

The Outlaws fumbled away their next possession and the Lions again drove the field for a score.  Receiver Thomas Frazer got the drive under way with a 24 yard crossing pattern and Croasdaile tacked on 15 yards on the ground.  Kelen finished off the drive by finding Gifford open in the back corner of the endzone from 15 yards out.  Erby converted for a 46-8 lead. 

Andrew Frawley came in for Dan Kelen at quarterback as the fourth quarter started and proceeded to direct the offence with confidence.  Shrugging off a holding penalty on first down, Frawley made a key completion to Gifford on third down and followed it up by hitting Mathew Freeman on a slant play in the face of an all-out blitz for his first career touchdown pass.  A missed PAT kept the score at 52-8. 

The Outlaws engineered one last chance to score.  After holding penalties and a sack had marched the Lions' offence back to the goal line,  the Outlaws got the ball on the half way line after the punt.   The Outlaws patched together a drive but were faced with 4th and 6 on the 23 yard line.  The Outlaws quarterback tried for a three step fly to his wide receiver, but cornerback David Bourke was in position to break up the pass and end the scoring threat. 

Frawley then lead the Lions on a 7 play, 57 yard drive to finish the scoring at 58-8 with a 6 yard plunge by Erby.  Frawley would end the day with 3 completions from 3 attempts, 50 yards, 1 touchdown and no interceptions, but the drive will probably best be remembered for the 11 yard gallop by Jay Bottom in a cameo appearance at running back.   

This was the second heavy loss handed to the Outlaws by the Lions.  At the first meeting, the Outlaws had been undefeated and seemingly on the rise.  However, they have not won a game since that contest and have now slumped to a record of 2-4.  It remains to be seen whether the Outlaws can rebound from another hard loss.