It’s all on for last round
College Old Boys are not the sort of club to entertain playing in the Val Holland Trophy bottom-four playoffs at the end of the season.
After a stuttering start to the season, when they lost four of the opening six bouts, COB stalwarts got the trembles.
Now, four months later, they are off the oxygen and can hit semifinal paydirt if they tip up Varsity at Massey University in the 18th and last round tomorrow.
It has been Varsity who have got the shakes worst – their only roundtwo win against a semifinal contender being 47-31 over Kia Toa.
There are extra permutations tomorrow. Should Varsity win, they could vault into second place should Kia Toa or Feilding Old Boys-o¯ roua falter. If the students snaffle only a bonus point, they will force COB to score four tries for a five-pointer.
So it’s going to be all on at Massey 8. Neither side has missed the Hankins Shield semifinals since 2008.
It’s difficult to read teams such as COB. They can click, as when they swamped the latest juggernaut, FOBO, 49-12 a month ago.
But last week, COB suddenly looked vulnerable against Te Kawau.
In round one, COB downed Varsity 23-22, in part through COB’S dominant scrum, while Varsity had Jamie Booth that day but lost four men to injuries.
Booth is surplus to the Hurricanes today, so don’t rule him out.
COB co-coach Ben James reports that one of last Saturday’s stars, wing Awatere Kiwara, has succumbed to a hamstring injury. As compensation though, they get new Turbos utility James Tofa back from injury.
Turbos hooker Tim Cadwallader might be in doubt again with his shoulder problem and having rugged Manawatu¯ loose forward Brice Henderson suspended is bad timing.
Meanwhile, top seeds Feilding, who last won the Hankins in 1984, are in the odd position where they don’t need to win nor risk injuries against Kia Toa at Bill Brown Park, Palmerston