Valley started well and look- ed to be evenly matched, with a penalty 15 minutes in allow- ing Jason de Joux to take a 3-0 lead before the Cats picked up the pace and ran in two tries in quick succession with a fast moving ball through their backline.

Hunters Hill continued the pressure until an intercept by de Joux saw him sprint 80m for a try under the posts and at 12-10 down the match was still alive.

But handling errors turned the ball over and the home team scored twice more bef- ore the break, and the second half was more of the same for Valley and they were unable to come back despite playing well in patches and the redhot Cats' line-up.

Coach's points: 3 Cameron Davis; 2 Jordan Davis; 1 Dane Humphreys.

The news wasn't any better in the lower grades, with Vall- ey suffering four losses for the day, although the Colts slugg- ed out a hard fought win over Colleagues.

Valley faces a tough task this week when it hosts the undefeated Merrylands, but it has two great reasons to pro- duce its best form with Robert Merton and Stuart Mitchell both set to play their 100th matches for the club.

The Colts travel to Roseville Chase Oval to meet Roseville at 2pm.

– Minor Grades, Page 81