Varsity turn it on late to thwart OBM
Three tries in the final 15 minutes helped Varsity claim an errorridden win over Old Boys-marist in Manawatu club rugby on Saturday.
With a favourable run home, the win means Varsity are the odds-on favourites to finish the season on top of the ladder.
But their performance over fellow contenders OBM was far from convincing.
Reece Brosnan crossed for an early try on the left wing, but they were not as fluid after that.
The Sky Blues dominated territory in the first half, but were undone by persistent errors.
They dropped a lot of ball which kept OBM in the game.
An early injury to wing Matt Maoate meant Ambrose Curtis was injected into the game in his first appearance for OBM this season.
Curtis made an immediate impact and looked dangerous each time he got his hands on the ball.
He bagged a try late in the second spell with his pace on full display, locking the scores at 10-10 at the break.
Luther Hirini, who is in top form at the moment, got close to scoring early in the second half as OBM started to mount the pressure.
Varsity’s errors continued and they looked to be in trouble when Michael Gattsche bumped off three defenders to score.
With about 15 minutes remaining, OBM were up 17-10.
But Varsity finally pulled things together with the Varsity pack wearing down OBM. The likes of Kirk Tufuga, Nick Grogan and Mickey Woolliams got through a ton of work.
Scott Davidson scored a try and Nick Birchfield bagged a double as they ran away with the match.
OBM’S best were halfback Hameura Baker, lock Chris Long and midfielder Kameli Kuruyabaki
(Nick Birchfield 2, Scott Davidson, Reece Brosnan tries; Davidson 3 con, pen)
(Ambrose Curtis, Michael Gattsche tries; Curtis 2 con, Matt Maoate pen) HT: 10-10. At Arena.
Feilding Old Boys-oroua have given themselves an outside
Varsity 29 Boys-marist 17 Old
chance of a top-four finish after a 22-16 win over Te Kawau.
A try with four minutes to go handed the Stags the match after they looked to have thrown it away in the second half.
Wing Ollie Brosnahan started the movement and turned Harrison Brewer inside out, before getting away a good offload to Jamie Perigo while been pushed over the sideline. Perigo bumped off Te Kawau fullback Temm Kauri and offloaded to hooker Simon Goss for the try.
Early in the match Fob-oroua took control by winning the battle at the breakdown.
Wing Willy Ambaka was a surprise contributor to their cause winning three breakdown turnovers.
Te Kawau had a couple of moments on attack and twice looked to be in the clear only for Harrison Brewer and then Adam Boult both being called back for a forward pass and offside respectively.
Ambaka scored the sole try of the first half when Tom Stewart spread him the ball in a 15m blindside. Ambaka beat three defenders en route to the tryline.
The Stags were deserving of their 8-3 halftime advantage.
But it was Te Kawau who had the momentum when the second half got under way.
Lock Tui Katoa made a big impact with his carries. It was one of his storming carries that led to a try to Te Atuarere Albert.
Te Kawau lifted their workrate at the breakdown which allowed them to hold onto the ball for prolonged periods.
Kauri ensured they cashed in with penalties which helped them stretch out to a 16-8 lead.
But then Fob-oroua came roaring back into the game.
Feilding Old Boys-oroua 22
(Willy Ambaka, George Macpherson, Simon Goss tries; Zeon Mcnabb 1 pen, 2 con)
(Te Atuarere Albert try; Temm Kauri con, 3 pen) HT: 8-3 FOB Oroua. At Rongotea.
College Old Boys raced in 10 tries as they cruised to a 60-5 win over Linton Amry.
The soldiers offered little resistance to the spirited COB.
Linton were left to rue their errors at the breakdown.
To counter their issues, they started overloading the rucks and were then caught short on the outsides.
The likes of Andrew Mcdougall and Patrick Tafili-reid found plenty of space.
While the backs were taking advantage of the space, the COB forwards were playing the starring roles.
Zane Rangi, Tim Cadwallader and Brice Henderson were particularly impressive.
Kawau 16 Te
COB led 31-0 at the break and it was a case of more of the same in the second half.
Flanker Angus White, who was the best on the park for Linton, scored Linton’s sole try near fulltime.
(Brice Henderson 2, Jamie Karatea 2, Andrew Mcdougall 2, Patrick Tafili-reid, Tuki Raimona, Karl Bryson, Brayden Cunningham tries; Curtis Reid 4 con, Bryson con) (Angus White try) HT: 31-0 COB. At Linton.
Kia Toa restored some confidence with a 78-3 win over Freyberg.
It was the fourth consecutive big score posted on Freyberg following a 66-3 loss to COB, 76-0 to Fob-oroua and 55-5 to Te Kawau as the club battles injuries and unavailablities.
They have had to turn to a number of Bs players to plug the holes who have performed admirably, but are not all up to senior A standard.
Against Kia Toa it was a very similar situation as each of their previous big losses.
Freyberg let in a couple of early tries, dropped their heads and never had the same intensity for the rest of the game.
After a couple of tough weeks, Kia Toa relished the space and took full advantage.
Fullback Keaton Kawana continues to look like a player of big potential.
He was injured for much of the year, but has looked full of running since his return. He cashed in with a hat-trick against Freyberg.
Halfback Alex Metekingi and wing Tobias Wickham-manuel also impressed.
The match featured the return from injury of Nathan Tudreu and Jade Te Rure and both picked up tries to celebrate.
Te Rure finished the match with 23 points.
Prop Hamish Chamberlaine and hooker Alama Samau both had good games up front for Freyberg. Flanker Christian Kellerman was also impressing before he left win an injury.
(Keaton Kawana 3, Brayden Iose 2, Tobias Wickhammanuel 2, Jaxson Taylor 2, Malua Moleli, Alex Metekingi, Nathan Tudreu, Jade Te Rure tries; Te Rure 9 con) (Wiremu Morgan pen) HT: 45-3 Kia Toa.
College Old Boys 60 Linton 5 Kia Toa 78 Freyberg 3