Late heartache for Feilding in final

A try in referee’s time cost the Feilding High School 1st XV the CNI title as they lost 32-28 against Wesley College in Pukekohe on Saturday.

Wesley were deserving of the win, with their intimidating forward pack and never-give-up attitude getting them across the line.

The were impressive in they way they bounced back after giving away a handy early lead.

But it was a match that was not always played with the best attitude, with a couple of Wesley players going unpunished for punches.

That is where the home field advantage played a big factor with the assistant referees appearing to be swayed by the vocal fans.

Feilding could have taken the crowd out of the game. They had achieved it early by responding to two early Wesley penalties.

Drew Wild kicked two penalties of his own, followed by a pair of tries - one a 70m effort from Coby Osbourne and the other when towering lock James Bolton

evaded five tacklers. Leading 20-6 the crowd was silenced.

They leaked a try just before halftime to cut the lead to 20-11 and that try awoke the crowd.

Feilding scored another try in the second half when Griffin Culver was on the receiving end of a Tyler Moeau break from a scrum.

But defensively, they started to fall off too many tackles.

They leaked three converted tries in the second half, including the match winner three and a half minutes into referee’s time.

Captain David Parker, lock TK Howden and halfback Culver were the standouts for Feilding.

Feilding now turn their focus to defending their national co-ed knockout title. They must beat Wairarapa College away next Saturday and then beat Porirua College to qualify for the Top Four tournament.

But the Kiwi pack struggled to deal with the bigger French forwards, especially at set piece.

The French relied on their heavy artillery to get the better of the high-powered New Zealand backline.

And for much of the match, it was working.

They racked up the score in multiples of three scoring points in almost every visit to the New Zealand half. Their 12-6 halftime lead was soon 15-6. Finally the Defence Blacks got their backs involved.

It took 53 minutes for the first try to be scored thanks to shortrange charge from No 8 Odin Robinson.

New Zealand had their second in the 63rd minute as Hamiora Thomas returned a French clearing kick with pace. He passed to Jaxon Tagavaitau, who charged through four defenders to score in the corner.

It set up a nervous final couple of minutes as the Kiwis tried to cling onto their slender lead, made even tougher when referee Matt Mcewen told the players the stadium clock was fast and there was a further two minutes to play.

But they finally got the ball out to record the win. Tagavaitau, first five-eighth Ben Wyness and Logan Broughton were New Zealand’s top performers.