The Jersey Flegg Sharks got the ball rolling with a convincing 26-point victory, before the Newtown Jets produced one of their most impressive performances of the season in round 17 matches played against Souths on Sunday.
In games contested at Coogee Oval, the under-21 Flegg side were dominant throughout, eventually running out 40-14 victors, and it was a similar story for the Jets, the Sharks' partner club in the NSW Cup consolidating their place in the top four with a 42-18 win.
In the NSW Cup clash it was the centre pairing doing the damage early, Chris Vea'ila brushing past his opposite to score, before a Michael Gabrael line break led to a try to hooker and captain Jayden Berrell and after two successful conversions from Niwhai Puru it was 12-0 Jets inside the opening 10 minutes of the match.
While the Newtown forwards were laying the platform, it was the backline that was benefiting, and after Souths had posted their first points, Eli Clark, then promising young fullback Taj Ford, with an individual effort from close range, helped push the score out to 24-6 Jets at the half-time break.
Some clever lead-up work from halfback Puru put Ford over for his second try in the opening set of the second half and from there the Jets were never seriously threatened. A try to Gabrael, then a perfectly weighted Puru kick for winger Kristian Dixon to touch down wide out, completed the scoring in a seven tries to three rout of the Rabbitohs.
In an impressive outing both with the boot and in relation to his general play, Puru also kicked seven goals from seven attempts for what was the 10th win of the season for the Newtown side.
In the earlier game the Jersey Flegg Sharks also maintained their position towards the top of the competition ladder with a bounce-back win over Souths, the victory following on from a disappointing loss in Melbourne the previous week.
The young Sharks gave up the first try but would go on to score seven of their own in what was a 12th win, against four losses, for the under-21 Cronulla side so far this season.
Similar to the win later in the day by the Jets, the Sharks' win was built on some barnstorming efforts from their forward pack, with none better than hard-working lock and captain Sam McCulloch, alongside starting props Felix Faatili and Setefano Sele.
From there the skill and speed of the Sharks backline grasped the opportunities presented, wingers Pharrell Gray and John-Paul Donevski proved hard to handle, as did Prestyn Laine-Sietu and Nikora Williams, the centre pairing returning to the Sharks team after playing in the under-19's Origin match last week.
Laine-Sietu was first to cross the line for the Sharks, Gray followed soon after and with youngster Oliver Lester touching down for his team's third, the visiting Cronulla side would take a 16-4 lead to half-time.
Whatever was discussed at the break had the desired effect in keeping the Sharks on the front foot, with backrower Lajuan Vito scoring just a minute into the second period, hard-running prop Richie Tupuailei crashing over soon after, then another of the Sharks middle forwards in Lachlan Crossle put the result beyond doubt with his try in the 61st minute of the match.
On the back of a line break Williams would complete the Sharks' scoring five minutes from full time.
Halfback Riley Pollard was on target with six of his seven conversion attempts.
The third-placed Jersey Flegg Sharks now move on to face the ladder-leading Storm at Henson Park on Saturday, with the Jets to take on the North Sydney Bears.
