Bonus point win gives Rams best of starts
An emphatic second half effort against Poneke and a resulting 35-16 bonus point win got the Upper Hutt Rams’ Hardham Cup campaign off in style on Saturday.
After as poor a start as any side could conjure up - a try gifted in a matter of seconds from the Poneke kick-off - the Rams settled to firstly share and then dominate the game, five tries to two.
This was an important opening win in a reformatted Hardham where six teams play 10 games - home and away - with no finals.
Ahead of the kick-off - and certainly for those seconds immediately afterwards - Poneke would have seen themselves as competition favourites.
They finished just outside the Swindale Shield top eight, nine competition points and one spot ahead of Upper Hutt.
They had also dished out a 52-14 hammering to the Rams in April but all that counted for nothing at a bleak Maidstone Park.
Tries to the veteran prop Apa Heemi, off a 20-metre driving maul and Sione Uuea after judicious midfield work from Tyler Tane meant Upper Hutt turned around only 14-16 down.
This was good reward, especially after that start but few sideline experts would have been predicted a 21-0 second stanza.
The Rams’ forwards got on top of their red and black opposition as the game went on.
Daniel Schrijvers, at seven with Mitchell Markov injured, delivered a second-to-nobody defensive effort, critical turnovers and good ball running.
With Sam Wasley, back from injury, and Josh Brown as Schrijvers’ loose forward partners the trio set the tempo of the game and increasingly ran their opposites ragged.
At lock Aidan Woodward had his best game of the season, while Heemi and an off-thebench Vaughan Koopu were also big contributors.
Max Pearson showed pace and increasing confidence at centre to zip over for two tries while Uuea showed top finishing for his second.
Joyner Key’s five conversions from five, including a couple from wide out showed he had found his kicking boots again.
Upper Hutt, rejuvenated or otherwise, face Wellington at Haitaitai Park on Saturday.