Cromwell’s victory a spectacle
ARROWTOWN’S tireless warrior Aidan Winter did not get the victory he dearly wanted for celebrating his 200th premier club rugby appearance, against the Cromwell Goats at Jack Reid Park on Saturday, but he and his army of fans got a contest that will live long in the memory.
It seemed like an appropriate fairytale finish for Winter’s team was unfolding when halfback Jackson Wallace, summoned after Arrowtown’s regular goalkicker had departed injured, slotted a challenging penalty goal three minutes from time to put Arrowtown in front 3331.
But the Goats, seeking revenge for the narrow loss to Arrowtown in the 2019 grand final, were not finished.
Kane Dodds’ restart was stunningly claimed by flanker Daniel Hurring, the team’s makeithappen player, allowing the Goats to surge on to attack and set up a scrum 30m out from the goalposts.
With time up, Arrowtown, which had dominated the scrums throughout, twice shunted the Goats back, causing their scrum to disintegrate, but without any penalty.
At the third setting, the Goats’ scrum held up long enough for them to secure possession and make progress towards the posts, winning a penalty when an Arrowtown forward was guilty of killing the ball.
Fullback Dodds, one of Cromwell’s star performers, coolly slotted the simple goal to give his team a 3433 victory.
Manager Russell Decke lavished praise on Hurring, whom he compared to the Crusaders’ firstfive Richie Mo’unga, who stole the game from the Blues about four hours later in Christchurch.
“Daniel so often pulls off those little things that change the course of matches,” said Decke. “He and Kane practise those restarts a lot, and it paid off on Saturday. If we hadn’t claimed the restart, I’m sure Arrowtown would have won.”
Arrowtown had led 2719 at halftime after a razzledazzle spell of rugby that produced seven tries, this despite losing five lineouts on their own throw.
Much of the second half was played in Arrowtown territory, until the late surge by Winter’s team. Besides Hurring, the Goats’ heroes were fullback Dodds, winger Luke Holden and blindside flanker Dylan Robinson.
Wakatipu rebounded from its 60point thumping against the Goats to hammer Alexandra 470 in Queenstown, with first fiveeighth Logan Beggs the player of the day. He contributed 17 points and directed play intelligently. Other standout players were Raf Tahura and, Steve Banks.
Maniototo rebounded from last week’s loss to Upper Clutha to comprehensively outplay Cromwell Cavaliers 488, with Pete O’Malley scoring a hattrick of tries, while Upper Clutha made it two fivepointers in a row by downing Matakanui Combined 3217 at Omakau.