O¯ haupo¯ side dominates Puta¯ruru
Young side gives its best consistently
O¯haupo¯ travelled to Puta¯ruru last Saturday for a division 1 pre-season encounter. In the earlier game, Ohaupo¯ ¯ B fielded a very competitive team.
A feature of this team was an Ohaupo¯ ¯ debut for Queyst MichaelTapu who played at first five-eighth.
Michael-Tapu, a former Te Awamutu Sports player, showed what a skilful player he is with his sharp footwork and ability to know where the space was in the Puta¯ ruru defensive¯line.
Ohaupo¯ will hope he hangs around for the rest of the season.
Another player on debut who stood out was hooker Paul JamesLyon who was a strong ball runner when the opportunity presented itself.
Captain Chris Boyce was a tireless worker for his beloved O¯ haupo¯ team.
O¯ haupo¯ A fronted with their top team, treating it as if it were a competition game.
The contest was between two young sides, a great sight at firstdivision level.
Puta¯ruru featured a team that included only six players over 21.
O¯ haupo¯ were first to score, through the speed of winger Caleb Kennedy who got the ball on his own side of halfway and showed a clean set of heels to outflank Puta¯ruru’s cover defence.
Impressive halfback Scott Thomas converted.
Puta¯ruru stormed back using a bulky front-rower to charge over close to the line.
Ohaupo¯ ¯ had made a tactical change for the game with usual fullback Dean Fullerton in at 10 and Josh Thomas at fullback.
This worked a treat, with Fullerton’s powerful boot giving O¯ haupo¯ field position.
And it was Thomas who was next to score, enjoying the space he was getting in the fullback role.
Thomas skipped around the back of the O¯ haupo¯ backline to allow him to cut the Puta¯ruru defence to pieces and score.
Younger brother Scott converted. For O¯ haupo¯ in the first half, lock Liam Fox was always one of the first O¯ haupo¯ forwards to get to the breakdown.
Prop Taylor Hayes looks in great form and is in for another big season. O¯ haupo¯ led at the halftime break. The young O¯ haupo¯ side had a great deal of confidence, which
comes from self-belief that they can compete against any team they come up against.
A lot of this has come from the players caring for each other on and off the field, and a consistency of selection during coaches Jordan Farrington and Mitch Graham’s time in charge.
O¯ haupo¯ continued their dominance in the second half and it was firstly impressive prop Liam Palaone who benefited from this, crashing over for a five-pointer.
This time it was Josh Thomas who converted.
It continued to be the front-rowers who benefited from O¯haupo¯’s field position with firstly Met Camaibatiki forcing his way across the line.
Camaibatiki was a handful for the Puta¯ruru tacklers all afternoon with
ball in hand.
Finally, club legend Kerry “Kooza” Matthews went across for a fivepointer, which topped off a fine second half from Matthews, who continues to show age is no barrier when he pulls on his beloved O¯ haupo¯ jersey.
One who stood out for Ohaupo¯ ¯ was back Chris Ferguson, who ran strongly all afternoon and challenged the Puta¯ruru defensive line with his strong ball carries.
Ferguson’s strong running was complemented by the good footwork of Bronson Wilson-Beech who was a great find for O¯ haupo¯ last season and will be an important part of O¯ haupo¯ ‘s plans for 2022.
But it was Kennedy, Ohaupo¯ ¯ ’s first try-scorer, who received the player of the¯day accolades.
Ohaupo¯ received fantastic support for this game with many of the faithful making the trip to the South Waikato.