Cambridge High impressive vs St John's
15th June 2011 09:41PM
By Hamish Forsman
Cambridge High School produced their best performance this season at the weekend, thrashing St John's College 48-5 to go into second place in Waikato secondary school division one rugby.
All signs pointed to a tight contest after both teams had registered similar results this season, and with Cambridge ahead 10-0 at half time it was heading that way. But everything Cambridge did in the second half seemed to come off and the game turned into a surprisingly one-sided affair as nothing seemed to go right for St John's.
In the first half Cambridge dominated territory and took an early lead after a try to centre Josh Gascoigne and a conversion and penalty to first five Jarred Fletcher, as St John's could not hold on to the ball and get out of their own half.
Cambridge continued to enjoy most of the possession in the second half but this time had more potency on attack. Midfield back Chris Bronswijk scored straight after half time. Five minutes later No 8 Isaac van der Valk latched on to a stray St John's pass and raced away to score. Fletcher converted both tries and suddenly the lead was 24-0.
The double strike appeared to take the sting out of St John's and they rarely threatened on attack, while Cambridge put their foot down and scored two more tries in the middle of the second half through loose forward Drew Bootten and hooker Jordan Mallinger.
With five minutes left St John's managed to get on the scoreboard, but Cambridge were not done and scored twice in the last three minutes of the match. Both tries came from good running rugby.
St Paul's and St Peter's fought out an entertaining 7-7 draw at Waikato Stadium on Friday in the curtainraiser to the Chiefs-Hurricanes match.
St Paul's had the better start and were rewarded, with forwards and backs combining well to score the only try of the first half through midfield back Lachlan Cooper. Fullback Jonty Rae converted from wide out.
In the second half St Peter's responded well and put pressure on the St Paul's defence which resulted in a try to midfield back Jason Thomasen. First five Wharenui Hawera added the conversion to tie the scores.
Despite a tense finish where St Paul's threatened to score again and steal the match, the St Peter's defence held, and they share the points to stay at the top of the table. The draw leaves St Paul's in third place but with two games in hand.
In the other first division game Hamilton Boys High School 3rd XV got off the bottom of the table with their first win of the season a well earned 32-15 bonus point win over Tokoroa High School.
Division 2: Morrinsville 41 Hillcrest 31, Te Awamutu 10 HBHS 4th XV 0, Fraser High 17 Matamata 12.
Division 3: Fairfield 17 Taumarunui 5, St Paul's 2nd XV 28 Te Kuiti 3, Forest View 37 Putaruru 11.
