Preparation begins for Mid Canterbury
Thames Valley have moved into third position on the Heartland Championship table after a 45-36 victory over King Country at Te Kuiti last Saturday.
For the fifth week in a row the Swamp Foxes gained a bonus point and this has enabled them to keep in touch with the competition leaders, South Canterbury and Horowhenua-Kapiti.
The win also means that the Valley return home with the Centurions’ Cup – the local derby trophy which is at stake when the two teams meet.
However this was a patchy performance by Thames Valley.
After only eight minutes they had 10 points on the board and went on to control the game for the first half hour. Then King Country managed to level the score before Valley scored two further tries to end the half ahead by 22 points to 10.
The home team opened the second half with a converted try but Thames Valley immediately responded with a penalty goal.
With the score at 25 -17 it did not take long before the two Thames Valley wingers, Harry Lafituanuai and Tyrone Keith scored converted tries to give the Swamp Foxes a comfortable 39-17 lead.
Once again the home team rallied and in a 15-minute purple patch rattled on 19 points to close the gap to just three points.
Suddenly Thames Valley’s comfortable lead had all but disappeared and at 39-36 they were faced by a team fired up with the spirit of the Meads’ brothers and with eight minutes still to play.
Fortunately The Swamp Foxes were able to tighten up their game and replacement five eighth, Beau Hamilton kicked two penalty goals to end the match at 45-36.
Another consistent effort by No 8 Alex Bradley saw him named as Thames Valley’s player of the match. Besides Keith and Lafituanai, George Lelenoa, Hayden Wisnewski and Jarrod Goodall scores tries with Goodall also kicking four conversions and two penalties for a personal contribution of 19 points.
Thames Valley let in five tries by King Country and this will be of concern for the coaches as they prepare the team to meet Mid Canterbury at Paeroa this Saturday. Mid Canterbury currently sit one point behind Thames Valley on the points table.