Hamilton Old Boys gain crushing revenge over old rival

Adam Burn admitted Hamilton Old Boys’ semifinal demolition of Melville was partly driven by revenge.

Melville captured last year’s Waikato club rugby premier title by defeating Old Boys in the final but were no match in Saturday’s semifinal as the hosts won 43-0 at Fred Jones Park.

‘‘After we lost to them last year, there was a bit of revenge there,’’ said the No 8, who scored the second of his side’s six tries.

Perawiti received the ball off another dominant scrum, cannoned into the Marist defence and left first five Joe Simpkins flat on the ground injured. Referee Grant Stuart halted proceedings, before showing a groggy Simpkins a blue card and awarding Otorohanga yet another scrum to resume play. ‘‘There was plenty of motivation.’’ The hosts didn’t allow the underdogs a chance at possession inside the attacking half for 30 minutes.

The defensive toll told on a gallant Melville outfit.

‘‘We had lots of pressure and they defended quite well - I thought they held out really well in that first 20 but with just an accumulation we ended up getting through,’’ Burn said.

‘‘We talked a lot about holding the ball and playing with the ball.’’

The visitors had to make a ton of tackles in the first 20 minutes and

This time when Otorohanga sent the Marist pack barrelling backwards, they collapsed and a penalty try was awarded to give them the victory.

Carr hoped the final against Old Boys would be played at Waikato Stadium.

‘‘There’s not a lot of room on that Fred Jones ground, there’s did so creditably, but they couldn’t hold out forever. After repelling a host of attacks, Melville squandered a rare opportunity with the ball and from the resulting scrum, a shortside move saw right winger Iliesa Ratuva Tavuyara crash over in the 20th minute.

With Melville’s lineout malfunctioning and Old Boys’ scrum on top, the one-way progress continued and No 8 Adam Burn finished off a break six minutes later, and with both tries converted by Tom Jordan, the hosts were 14-0 up. Had Melville held that scoreline to the break, they may have had a shot

going to be a lot of Otorohanga people up there, so they should have it at the stadium, it’s a home ground to Old Boys anyway,’’ he said.

There was no time celebrating just yet though.

‘‘We start making plans now, we’ll talk about it tomorrow, what we’re going to do.’’

for in the second spell but Johnny Fa’auli stepped and went over from close range just before the break to give Old Boys a 19-0 lead.

The second-half wasn’t all oneway traffic but the hosts still did all the scoring.

Jordan added a penalty before Mungo Mason went over untouched after peeling off a powerful maul in the 46th minute and Jordan scored his side’s fifth try with 10 minutes to play.

Melville’s heart enabled them to nearly grab a consolation try.

A spilt ball near the line was quickly transferred wide to left winger Sevu Reece and he ran 90 metres to dot down with time almost up.

‘‘We were quite happy when that rain passed - the boys out wide can really move and it opened up for them late in the game too,’’ Burn said.

Burn now expects a huge physical challenge from Otorohanga in the final.

‘‘They’re big boys – they run straight and hard,’’ Burn said.

‘‘They’re a very physical pack and have a lot momentum with the winning run to get into the semifinals and then winning today.’’