Rarawa all right on Friday night
TE RARAWA 19 EASTERN 17 (HT 14-5): Rarawa recorded the upset of round 6 of the North Zone senior club rugby competition with this win over Eastern under lights at Ahipara on Friday night.
As one can imagine, the result went down a treat with the hometown supporters, in particular the ever rowdy and vocal crew which packed in to the Tropics grandstand. Rarawa coach Thomas Rogers was understandably rapt with the result, noting the home team had risen to the challenge of the longstanding rivalry, and led throughout.
“Just came down to that east west clash. Boys just mana’d up [sic] on the night. We went into the game with a bit more of a structured play and, yeah, we got the reward. But our fitness held up. Got a little bit hairy towards the end,” he admitted, referring to Eastern having several opportunities to win the game with a sequence of late penalties which were all missed: “The Tropics helped us out a bit there with some of their kicks. Full house in there,” Rogers chuckled.
Tries by Rawiri Thompson 2 (the centre also getting the POTD award), Bronson Manga with Stew Jobe kicking 2 conversions. Also notable was Roman, the hooker.
Te Rarawa play yet another game under lights on Friday, this time away to Kaikohe. Eastern coach Dave Jurlina was gracious in defeat and congratulated Rarawa on their win.
“At the end of the day, they played really, really well. We have no reason or excuse, on their previous results, we certainly weren’t complacent. They stepped up for this game big time.
“Disappointed as I was at losing, I was also pleased to see them with such enthusiasm and passion. It was a good game, fairly contested. In saying that, we had our chance to win at the end, bombed a try and missed a couple of penalties. On the night, it wasn’t to be. Fair result at the end of the day.”
Jurlina has also been busy getting the Mangonui senior rep side ready for the Easter Weekend clash against the Bay of Islands for the Robbie Ball Memorial Trophy in Kaikohe on Thursday, April 18. ■ Results from the other games — all played on Saturday — were as follows.
TAIAMAI OHAEAWAI 5 KAEO 97 (HT 5-38): Kaeo recorded a big away win over Ohaeawai at Ludbrook Park with coach Paul Nathan pleased with the visiting side’s performance; Kaeo are now sitting second place on the ladder, equal on points with Awanui, both seven shy of frontrunners Moerewa UK.
“We had a good day yesterday,” said Nathan matter-of-factly. “It was the performance we have been waiting for this season. [But] I don’t think that score was reflective of a side that was struggling, they [Ohaeawai] looked in good stead, pretty hardy crew over there.”
Standouts included Jamahl Pawa as overall POTD, “had a fantastic game, big game all round the park”, lock Conrad Hughes as forward POTD, and veteran Quinn Butler at 2nd five, marking a “fantastic return” to local club rugby by picking up the back POTD
citation. Also notable was Matiu Kahle with five tries.
PANGURU 21 OTIRIA 13 (HT 9-6): Another very intense encounter from the round took place at Panguru with the first try of the game coming in the second half when Otiria’s Henare Hura broke away from a ruck on the 10m mark and offloaded to hooker Rei Rei Tamehana (forward POTD) who ran 40m to score. Panguru replied 10 minutes later to lead 14-13 and then sealed the victory by dotting down again three minutes from fulltime. Otiria coach Te Rangi Allen described the game as “a torrid affair”.
“No quarter was given with both forward packs immovable at scrum time. Otiria had the better of the lineouts but we were not able to manipulate the weakness of the opposition to their advantage,” he said, adding Otiria had a late opportunity to salvage a point with a penalty out in front by choosing to run but knocked on going over in the tackle.
“Unfortunate but that’s rugby. Just another learning curve,” he said noting Otiria was now focused on facing Awanui this Saturday and was devising a strategy to contain their Fijian contingent.
“This is a tight competition and it will be down to the wire as to who will fill the top six spots. The boys are still buoyant and ready to move on.”
Panguru coach Mike Te Wake said it was an emotional game for the hosts who dedicated it to coach Joe Pomare who took a turn for the worst last week.
“Everyone took it up another level, done it for him,” he said, adding, “Good conditions for the game, Otiria came over massive squad, massive support crew. Really good to see. Just a real physical good game. We just put things together, good to see my scrum pack dominate . . . strikepower in our backs exposing holes. It was good game.”
Tries by Pita Cook and Rihari Thomas with Mikey Tangimetua kicking three penalties and one conversion while standouts included tighthead prop Wes Peita, 2nd five and captain Hepa Matthews.
OKAIHAU 0 MOEREWA KAWAKAWA 106: The biggest scoreline of the weekend was recorded on the hill at Okaihau where the hosts were given the right old whitewash treatment from the competition’s pacesetters.
Kawakawa Moerewa coach Wayne Martin said Okaihau were just unlucky at having to face a side fully hitting its straps.
“Perfect performance from us,” he said, adding it came at the right time too with UK Moerewa now having two weeks off, the bye in round 7, followed by the Easter weekend off (where the Bay reps will host Mangonui at Kaikohe in a night game on Thursday the 18th).
The visiting backs ran rampant and scored all 18 tries including Warren Dunn 7, Tanekopa Ngaropo and Reece George getting three each, Josh Owen and Rhys Te Nana two each, and one for Chaz Watene, but only eight were converted: Kane Brooks 5, Chaz Watene 2 and George 1, with the latter named back POTD while Justin Davies picked up the forward POTD.
Clint ‘Chops’ Clayden said the result showed why United Kawakawa Moerewa were top of the table and perhaps, along with Awanui, at this point of the season on another level to the rest of the North Zone sides.
He could still find something to laugh about when the score was 92-0 with five minutes to go and someone suggested to the ref to blow for fulltime and prevent the visitors from clearing the ton.
Clayden’s highlight of the day was young Tipene Howard who turned up out of the blue to play his first game of the season, put his hand up to play prop and did so for the full 80 minutes “like a champion”. “He wasn’t the flashest player out there, he was just consistent all day.”
KAIKOHE 65 KAITAIA 5: Kaikohe coach Wally Harris said that after hearing the news of Te Rarawa’s win over Eastern on Friday night, the homeside was expecting to be in for a tough game.
“Although Kaitaia might be on the bottom of the table, it’s only time before they crack a team that’s takes them to lightly. I knew we could not go into this game with a relaxed attitude, as we had just come off a three-in-a-row losing streak.
“I was impressed with our performance; we set out with a gameplan and stuck to it. Although we got ahead early in the game we were resilient sticking to our process, the road for here to top six is not easy we love the challenge and the fight ahead of us.”
Attention now turns to this Friday night’s match against Te Rarawa, which will be a special evening for Kaikohe and surrounding communities with the official unveiling of the club’s brand new lights. On behalf of the club inviting everyone to come along: “It’s going to be exciting,” he promised.
The curtain-raiser is a women’s match between Te Rarawa and Kaikohe at 6pm.
Bye: Awanui.
■ STANDINGS: Moerewa UK (played 6, for 344/ against 98) 29 points, Kaeo (5, 268/101) 22, Awanui (5, 249/132) 22, Otiria (5, 163/108) 20, Kaikohe (6, 194/144) 18, Eastern (6, 222/159) 17; Panguru (5, 131/116) 14, Te Rarawa (6, 107/250) 7, Ohaeawai (5, 101/248) 7, Okaihau (6, 128/330) 6, Kaitaia (5. 82/303) 1.