Hornby win through narrowly to grand final
Hornby coach Jed Lawrie will have plenty of grand final nerves this week but when it comes to defence and mental toughness he can rest easy.
Lawrie said his team has been in some rugged battles this season but Saturday’s 20-10 preliminary final victory over the Papanui Tigers was ‘‘the toughest by a long way’’.
The victory means Hornby will take on last year’s beaten finalists Linwood in Sunday’s Pat Smith Trophy decider at AMI Stadium.
Saturday’s win came seven days after the Panthers vowed to make the grand final ‘‘the Hornby way’’ following a heartbreaking 12-18 loss to Linwood in the major semifinal.
When Hornby clash with Linwood, they will look to win their third final in five years – all coming after losing in the first week of finals football.
Hornby shot out to a 14-0 lead thanks to first half tries from Gene Spooner, Craig Smith and David TongoTongo but had every excuse to lose when put under immense second half pressure by the Tigers.
‘‘Mentally that last 30 (minutes) we were under the pump but we just kept hanging in there,’’ Lawrie said.
He praised his side who repelled wave after wave of attack as Papanui, the 2015 champions, desperately tried to fight back from a 14-0 halftime deficit to return to the grand final.
Two quick tries after halftime had Papanui back in the contest at 10-14.
Hornby struggled to get out of their own half for much of the second spell but the more attacking chances Papanui got, the more determined Hornby’s gritty scrambling defence got.
‘‘Scramble D (defence) is all about attitude and effort so it was very pleasing,’’ Lawrie said.
Finally with under 10 minutes to play, a Smith break paved the way for Hornby halfback Tevin Arona to score the match winner despite a pass that even many Hornby supporters labelled as forward.
Hornby’s go forward coming off its own line in the second half was far from strong but Lawrie put that down to the heavy ground, playing into the wind without much ball and backing up from a tough encounter with Linwood seven days earlier.
He believes energy will not be a problem come Sunday’s grand final and is confident his props can match it with Linwood’s big and powerful middle.
‘‘If we turn up with a good defensive attitude and make sure we complete our sets we should be thereabouts at the 80 minute mark.’’
Lawrie praised the defensive effort of the outstanding Corey Lawrie and James Baxendale who played 80 minutes in the middle.
‘‘Right through from 1-17 everyone chipped in,’’ Lawrie said.
Papanui coach Shane Endacott was proud of the Tigers’ comeback and said his side were still confident of victory at the break.
‘‘Believe it or not we were actually happy with 14-0 as it could have been worse and we had the wind in the second half.’’