Waimea Combined pipped at the death
At a glance
Waimea Combined Schools had another UC Championship contender dead in their sights but couldn’t hold on in a tight 10-7 home loss to Christ’s College on Saturday.
Christ’s are genuine playoff material in this year’s Crusaders region secondary schools rugby competition although after their stunning win over Nelson College earlier this season, Waimea appeared ready to deliver another telling blow.
However, after heading into the death throes tied at 7-7, Christ’s fullback Ben Dickie calmly slotted the match-winning penalty with around three minutes remaining.
Waimea had generated much of the play in a scoreless first half before denying Christ’s two late scoring opportunities just before the break.
Scrambling Waimea defence initially forced a knock-on as a Christ’s forward dived for the line with time almost up up. Moments later, more clever Waimea defence turned Christ’s No 10 Kurtis Weeks on his back to deny the visitors once again.
The deadlock was finally broken 10 minutes into the second half when Waimea No 10 Josh McPherson punched through a hole near Christ’s quarter line to sprint between the posts.
Despite some dogged home defence, Waimea’s 7-0 lead always appeared under threat as Christ’s forwards stepped up a gear. There was no respite from a stronger Christ’s scrum and despite spending 10 minutes in the sin-bin for a high tackle, No 8 Kaveni Balenacagi eventually returned to bullock across beside the posts to help level the scores.
Dickie then stepped up to seal the win from 42m out.
Waimea’s defensive energy matched that of their earlier win over Nelson although frustrating handling errors, albeit under constant pressure, crept in at crucial moments on attack.
McPherson kicked cleverly for space to help generate Waimea’s first half momentum, while No 8 Joe Taylor was dynamic on defence throughout a physical encounter. Reuben Chubb and Caleb Delany also produced big workloads.
Centre Jan Lammers displayed an impressive array of skills and was another key figure in Waimea’s defence.
Meanwhile, Nelson College’s scheduled clash with St Thomas of Canterbury College in Christchurch was called off due to a flooded pitch.
The game will be rescheduled for a later date.