Old Boys dumped by fiesty Steelers
College Old Boys’ season is over, after being eliminated in the first week of the Waikato club rugby league playoffs.
Qualifying fifth for the topfive finals series, things went according to seedings when they lost 36-18 in their suddendeath encounter with the fourth-placed Coast Steelers, at Hamilton’s Resthills Park on Saturday.
Despite holding an 8-6 lead near halftime, it was only two tries in the final two minutes which brought the final scoreline a bit closer, as Old Boys were outmuscled by a Steelers side who were superbly guided by the running and kicking game of five-eighth Jesse Martin.
The brother of North Queensland Cowboys fiveeighth, Te Maire, scored a try and kicked six from six, while brother Haami nabbed two tries, all under the watchful eye of dad and coach, Greg.
In tough, muddy conditions, ball handling looked difficult early, though first points came after just six minutes, when busy Old Boys five-eighth Raha Elkington popped a great offload for prop Karl Sitene to dive over.
With plenty of time down their own end, as the teams both did manage to complete sets alright, it took the Steelers till the 24th minute to reply, with interchange forward Anton Owen showing plenty of impact with a lovely break, and getting the ball away to flying hooker Haami Martin to score under the sticks.
Old Boys were able to retake the lead four minutes before halftime, after Elkington forced a dropout then lock Malone Harris spun his way over, but the Steelers hit back right on the break with a superb effort, as Jesse Martin sent a lovely-weighted kick for winger Marama Rayner, who ran on then gave inside for centre Dane Pouwhare to finish.
Down 12-8 at the split, Old Boys then endured a nightmare start to the second stanza, with Elkington spilling the kickoff. And from there, Jesse Martin extended the margin to double figures, with a powerful effort close to the line.
Playing catchup footy and trying some miracle efforts, Old Boys nearly responded when Elkington put halfback Teina Anderson away, only for a superb trysaving tackle from Steelers fullback Thomas Nahanga to snuff out the movement.
Then, the game was then as good as done after 50 minutes, when Nahanga scored himself at the other end, sliding through on a Jesse Martin grubber.
Dispirited, Old Boys began to fall off tackles, and two more tries - to impressive prop Jack Maikuku and Haami Martin - in five minutes blew the score out to 36-8 with 12 minutes left, before Elkington and Anderson collected consolation efforts late on.
With their victory, the Steelers will now travel to face the Ngaruawahia Panthers in a sudden death clash, after the Panthers lost Saturday’s 2 v 3 playoff match to the Hamilton City Tigers at Resthills Park, 14-10 in golden point.
The scores were locked at 10-10 at fulltime after Tigers halfback Hayden Karena’s last-gasp field goal attempt shot under the crossbar.
It was then the higherranked Tigers who were able to close it out in the first half of the extra time. On the back of penalty from referee Lance Bullen around halfway, the hosts attacked down the Panthers’ end, and instead of trying for another one-pointer in the mud, they shifted the ball left, with fullback Aaron Jolley slicing through.
The Tigers take on topranked Taniwharau in Huntly, with the winner earning a week off and hosting rights for the following week’s grand final.