Feilding on march to Top Four
The Feilding High School 1st XV is heading back to the National Top tournament to defend their co-ed title.
The school beat Porirua 15-11 in Palmerston North on Saturday to win the Hurricanes tournament and earn a spot ih the tournament.
But they left it until late to secure the win in a messy showing which gave Porirua more of a sniff then they deserved.
Feilding captain David Parker said they were slow to start the match.
‘‘[Porirua] came out and gave it to us. I think it just took a while for the boys to actually get into the game and realise what we were doing wrong,’’ he said.
‘‘We were tackling a little bit high and our discipline was quite poor.’’
The hard-working No 8, who is hoping to remain in Manawatu next year, has fond memories of the school’s trip to the top four last season.
‘‘It was awesome, I have never experienced something like that and all the boys were psyched up. Hopefully we can go out and pick it up again. It is quite exciting for the new boys and the other boys who have already been there.’’
They will face Blues qualifiers Rangitoto College in their first match of the tournament at the Sports and Rugby Institute on Friday.
But they will need an improved performance to get across the line.
With a stiff wind at their backs, Porirua did a good good kicking for territory with Eli Moataa carving off some big metres.
Moataa scored the first points to give Porirua the lead.
Feilding kept making mistakes before they could build an substantial attack, despite some dangerous carries from Drew Wild, Leo Wiki and Coby Osborne.
They finally got some reward when Tyler Moeau broke the line and set up a try for Kody Edwards giving them a 5-3 halftime lead.
Wild and Moataa traded penalties to make the score 8-6 not long after the break.
But Feilding continued to make
a lot of mistakes and were being heavily penalised.
That allowed Porirua to get plenty of attacking possession and they regained the lead when Jamie
Soapi crashed over after a 20m burst.
Feilding did not get much reward for their dominant scrum, but it did form the base for their crucial second half try as Moeau burst off the back and set up Griffin Culver, one of the side’s top performers, for the try.
They held on for the final couple of minutes, as Porirua launched a series of promising attacks, to secure the win.
In the Hurricanes’ girls’ final, St Mary’s College were too string for Manukura winning 31-10 in Palmerston North.
Manukura battled hard in the opening half with the benefit of a stiff breeze.
St Mary’s picked up two early tries, but Manukura, who were aided by a favourable penalty count, did not lie down.
Centre Carys Dallinger and flanker Isbella Rewiri-wharerau both impressed as they had prolonged periods of attack inside the St Mary’s 22.
Halfback Lucy Brown scored on halftime to make it 12-5.
With the wind at their backs, St Mary’s pulled away in the second half, helped by a hat-trick to No 8 Dhys Faleafaga.
The Hurricanes’ boys’ final was all one way traffic as Hastings Boys’ High School thumped St Pat’s Silverstream 47-17.
Just 13 minutes into the game Hastings had scored four tries and were cruising.
They led 33-12 at the half and closed out the match with ease in the second stanza.