Tough day for Moerewa
Discipline an issue as Mid Northern run in 48 points
There will need to be ample soul searching through the week for Ngati Hine Moerewa and some tough questions asked about individual performances before their next match against in-form Kamo.
Playing with 14 men for half an hour and having three players sent to the naughty chair throughout the game did the Premier newcomers no favour in the Tyrepower club rugby game in Moerewa on Saturday.
That’s why it was no surprise that the hosts imploded in the second spell against Mid Northern, losing 48-6.
Moerewa coach Alastair Rickey is right — it was a game of two halves and while his side absorbed all the pressure and kept the score to a respectable 12-6 at the breather, they came back from the halftime break lifeless and insipid.
The visitors didn’t need to be clever, they just needed to execute the basics with precision. That was too much for the limited Moerewa.
“The three sin bins didn’t help us. They were clinical over us but we take a lot of positives out of the match. We’re a new club and it’s just a matter of rebuilding and hopefully, we have a good week at training.”
His team slipped into the fifth position on the Premier ladder after three wins and two losses and play Kamo on Saturday.
Mid Northern have jumped to third and host the Western Sharks this weekend.
Mentor Corey Anderson is pleased with Saturday’s huge win but said it was early days in the competition.
Moerewa made life difficult for his side in the first half but his players found their rhythm after the break and it began raining tries.
“We sought to be more consistent, control the ball well, win our set-piece and shift the ball a couple of places out of the ruck. The reserves we played in the last 25 minutes got the job done.”
Prop Curtis Toapuho and centre Kalani Going came in for special mention in what Anderson described as a “pretty physical” game.
Led up front by Toapuho and Northland skipper Jordan Olsen, Mid Northern were better organised at the set-piece, for the most part, controlled the breakdown well, were full of good ideas, and stretched Moerewa out wide.
With tired legs and burning lungs, the hosts’ defence began disintegrating as Mid Northern ramped up the pressure in the final quarter around the fringes.
While Mid Northern ran into space, Moerewa ran at bodies. While the visitors were composed, the hosts panicked and were forced to defend in their own half for long periods of play.
Their basics of pass and catch were only good up to a point.
They just couldn’t hold on to the ball for long enough or pick the right runner after they had created the space
They can only be thankful that while Mid Northern were good at building momentum and stringing together passes close to the tryline, they weren’t so good at closing it out and scoring from it.
Mid Northern No 8 Rob Rush got his marching orders in the 24th minute for killing the ball and it allowed Moerewa to put first points on the board through a penalty.
But it didn’t take long for Mid Northern to strike back. Himi Manuel dotted down in the corner after fielding a pass from first five John Cooper off set-piece play.
Moerewa nailed their second penalty before hooker Gil Cann-Vana was sin-binned for a foul in a ruck. Rush scooped the ball at the boot of the scrum and dived under the posts unchallenged.
In the other results from over the weekend, Waipu beat Hikurangi 27-0, Western Sharks won away to Wellsford 38-15, Kamo pipped Kerikeri 31-29, and the table-topping Old Boys Marist thrashed winless Hora Hora 52-14.