Uni-Norths Owls continue unbeaten start with Battle of the Birds win

Never had the Owls claimed four consecutive wins to start the John I Dent Cup season in his time. Until now.

Uni-Norths continued their unbeaten start to the delayed season with a 34-26 win over the Gungahlin Eagles at ANU on Saturday.

The 'Battle of the Birds' victory sees them claim another five points and extends their lead on top of the John I Dent Cup table.

"It's a fantastic start and we couldn't hope for anything better really," Rolfe said.

"I've been at the club for 11 years and I've never seen us go 4-0 which is great.

"It's just that belief. Over the last couple of years our squad as maintained the same and we've added to it with some key guys from other areas.

"I also believe we're one of the fittest teams in the competition, so we have faith in what happens in the back end of the game."

Uni-Norths overcame the absence of their captain Lachlan Creighton and Billy Pollard to win the Birds battle in soaking-wet conditions.

It took just three minutes for the undefeated Owls to strike, with winger Byron Hollingworth flying down the left edge and fending off Joel Atkins to score in the corner.

The momentum quickly shifted and Gungahlin looked like they were going to cruise to a massive victory when they scored three unanswered tries. An Atkins try and a Tom Hadded double gave the visitors a 12-point lead early in the first-half, but that's where their charge stalled.

Hollingworth finished with a double, while a penalty goal and a Sam Burrows special swung the lead back to the Owls' favour at halftime.

"Gungahlin brought a lot of physicality out to us early and we knew that was going to come with the way they've been playing," Rolfe said.

"It was wet football but we were ready for it though. We have a pretty good kicking game so that helped us in patches, which was good for sure."

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Gungahlin couldn't make ground in the second-half as Uni-North extended their lead with a Will Sankey try in the opening minutes.

The match was all but sealed when Hamish Dawson threw a perfectly-placed pass to winger Joshua Seis, who dived over to score in the the 59th minute.

The visitors hung tight and continued to challenge until Brodie Ingram's final whistle, but dropped balls and a Levi Shaw sin-bin saw Uni-Norths fly home.

Across the border, the Canberra Royals claimed their first win of the season, beating the Queanbeyan Whites 23-7 at Campese Oval. Wests beat the Tuggeranong Vikings 28-20 at Jamison Oval, closing the gap between the top teams on the ladder.

Uni-Norths will meet Tuggeranong in a round-five clash next week and Rolfe expects the Vikings will be rearing after the loss.

"We were pretty impressed with Wests when we played agianst them. They're a lot better than they have been so I thought that was going to be a tight game," Rolfe said.

"Aboslutely the Vikings are always a quality outfit and bring a lot to the table. We've got to be ready to go for them."

AT A GLANCE

John I Dent Cup round four: UNI-NORTHS OWLS 34 bt GUNGAHLIN EAGLES 26, CANBERRA ROYALS 23 bt QUEANBEYAN WHITES 7, WESTS 28 bt TUGGERANONG VIKINGS 20