St Peter's grab late winner
25th May 2011 03:29PM
By Hamish Forsman
St Peter's have beaten local rivals Cambridge High School 11-8 with a dramatic try five minutes from full time in round two of Waikato secondary school 1st XV rugby.
The division one contest at St Peter's School was tense throughout with a sizeable crowd on hand to watch the clash between the two schools.
Cambridge got off to a flying start with a try in the first few minutes from centre Josh Gascoigne after stringing together a series of good phases deep in St Peter's territory.
St Peter's then settled down and for most of the first half enjoyed good field position but failed to make the most of their time in possession.
Cambridge's defence was up to the task, led by props Ihaka Mita and Te Ahu Tipuna, and turnovers at crucial times from the Cambridge forwards disrupted St Peter's momentum.
St Peter's got on the scoreboard with two penalties from first five Wharenui Hawera, and despite a late attacking surge from Cambridge, they took a 6-5 lead into halftime.
Both teams were guilty of being over-eager for most of the first half, with a high penalty count and a lack of execution disrupting the flow of the game.
In the second half Cambridge played with a lot more control, halfback Brogan Bayliss organising his forwards well to provide the platform for their backs to threaten the St Peter's line.
But Hawera reeled off a number of huge punts to get them out of danger.
Then, with just seven minutes left, a penalty to Cambridge put them in front again, much to the delight of their large number of vocal supporters.
But just as Cambridge were entertaining the thought of victory St Peter's, after a quick kickoff, caught Cambridge napping down the right wing as centre Jason Thomasen crossed for the match-winning try.
St Paul's started their division one campaign with a comfortable 34-0 win over Tokoroa High School.
The hosts scored three tries in each half and never looked like having their line crossed in a game marred by errors from both sides.
Hadleigh May, Alistair Bayly and Graydon Scheres all scored tries from individual efforts in the first half.
But good defence at times from Tokoroa and impatience from St Paul's prevented them from scoring again until Angus Williams, Aaron Elliot and Robbie Leon Guerrero added tries in the last quarter of the match.
St John's, also playing their first division one match of the season, beat Hamilton Boys' High School 3rd XV in a scrappy encounter 22-10.
Having the bye week last weekend did not help St John's as they lacked continuity in the first half.
They slowly began to dominate up front and managed to pull away from Boys' High late in the second half. Niko Malo, Sam Cooper and Matthew Blackie scored St John's tries with Dylan Bower adding two conversions and a penalty, while loose forward Lui Finau was impressive.
Division 2: Fraser High 22 Te Awamutu 12, Matamata 25 Hillcrest 23, Morrinsville 33 Hamilton Boys' High 4th XV 13.
Division 3: Putaruru 7 St Paul's 2nd XV 7, Forest View 24 Fairfield 5, Taumarunui 25 Te Kuiti 5
