Wintry weather brings the upsets
19th May 2010 08:45AM
By EVAN PEGDEN - Waikato Times
In swept the first rain of the Waikato premier club rugby season on Saturday and with it came yet more upsets in this fascinating competition.
The upset merchants of the previous weekend, TDO Melville, suddenly found themselves on the other end of one when blanked 23-0 by APL Hautapu in Hamilton.
At the same time in Te Awamutu, competition leaders CBD Hamilton Old Boys ran into their second defeat in a row with a 24-18 loss to Ecolab Te Awamutu Sports, having been unbeaten two weeks earlier.
With Shenanigans Fraser-Tech grinding out an 18-15 away win over Hamilton Marist that was enough to put Tech on top of the table for the first time – one point ahead of Old Boys.
With OTC Otorohanga coming from 11 points down at halftime at home to pip Wagon Wheel Morrinsville Sports 12-11 they have moved ahead of Melville into third place, while defending champions Morrinsville are now in danger of missing the top eight for the main round, currently 10th with two matches to play.
But the top-eight battle is very close. While only 12 points cover the current top eight there are just six points separating places fifth through to 10th.
In that battle are ninth-placed University, who picked up their fourth win of the season with a 44-7 victory over Reid and Harrison United Matamata Sports.
Fraser-Tech18
Hamilton Marist15
This was the proverbial game of two halves between two traditional rivals at Marist Park, dictated by the wind to a large degree.
Tech, who led 18-3 at halftime, have scored more tries than any team this year but with the advent of rain and a stubborn Marist defence, that missed few tackles, they only managed two in this game – both in the first half and both to the Scheres brothers, Thomas and Joe, the latter the standout figure in the match as a highly promising young open-side flanker.
With dominant lock Peniasi Iowane winning a stream of lineout ball from the throw-ins afforded by Marist being pushed back deep in their own territory and having to regularly kick the ball out, Tech dominated the first half with the elements behind them but it was a scrappy affair with a high error rate.
As the rain began to ease after the first half hour Tech upped the ante and first hooker Thomas Scheres was rumbled over by his pack, wing Maru Henry just missed a try in the right corner and Joe Scheres drove over from a goal-line three-man pick-and-go after fullback Nathan Lamb had shown great commitment to claim a loose ball.
But in drier conditions in the second half the Marist backs showed what they could do on attack and with some field position, provided them by the visitors' mistakes at the end of promising phases of attack, which led to a wind-assisted kick down the other end.
Wing Frank Halai made inroads into the Tech defence and replacement Royce Teinakore and fullback Rakutia Vakalalabure both came up with tries inside the first 12 minutes of the second half and that was the end of the scoring as the rest of the match became something of a stalemate.
Hautapu23
Melville0
The Hautapu forwards totally dominated this encounter at Collins Rd, while the visitors also put in a huge defensive effort in the wet and windy conditions.
Lock Romana Graham and No8 Jamie McQueen were the standout forwards in the visiting front eight, while New Zealand Under-20 halfback Tawera Kerr-Barlow, who scored two tries, was all class and second-five Keith Lowen excelled in the conditions.
Hautapu led 8-0 at halftime and added three more tries in the second spell, including Kerr-Barlow's double, to grab a bonus point.
No8 Bronson Daniels was the best of a beaten pack for Melville, while replacement back TK Moeke did add some incisiveness when he came on at the start of the second half.
Te Awamutu Sports24
Hamilton Old Boys18
Te Awamutu Old Boys are on a roll and this was their third win in a row and second big scalp at home on Albert Park in three weeks.
A heavy downpour for the first half-hour turned this match into a real forward slog for a while and for the home side locks Chris Middleton and Dan Gujer were outstanding, dominating the lineouts and doing a lot of good work in the rucks and mauls.
Flanker Jono Armstrong and Gujer got the first-half tries for a 17-6 half-time lead to the home side with Leon Emery adding the extras with his boot as well as having a solid game on defence.
The second half saw the wind and rain disappear but a costly mistake, which summed up Old Boys' performance, saw Ryan Meacheam gifted a try straight after the restart and at 24-6 Old Boys were playing catch-up from then on.
While flanker Murray Iti had another strong game for the visitors, silly mistakes at crucial times prevented them doing better than two Paul Gibson tries, with another three scoring chances blown.
Otorohanga12
Morrinsville Sports11
Morrinsville had first use of the conditions with the rain sweeping in behind them at Island Reserve and with a try to wing Jone Lagibola and two Brook Tremayne penalties they turned 11-0 up.
Otorohanga had not kept ball in hand in the first half against the wind and paid the price for kicking away possession, but when the weather cleared in the second spell the home started moving the ball through their potent backs and got the results.
It was not easy for the home side against a solid Morrinsville defence but with Nathan Loganimoce and John Jackson prominent in the tight five and Terry White stiffening up the midfield defence at second-five, they produced tries to Peki Manawaiti and Turanga King to hit the front with 20 minutes to go and then hung on.
Te Rapa27
Taupiri17
Te Rapa took some time to subdue a gallant Taupiri side at St Andrews Park, but eventually the home side got up to win by 27-17, John Holt reports.
Te Rapa started the match well and led 10-0 after just seven minutes of play. First five-eighth Nathan George kicked an early penalty goal, and then from the restart sliced through on a 20m clean break to score under the posts and convert.
However, Taupiri then turned the game their way.
Two tries, the first to Ben Harris, following up to score after Te Rapa failed to field a high kick-through; the second a penalty try awarded after the home side tried to illegally slap the ball out of play when under pressure behind their goal line, both converted by David Litt, who also kicked a penalty goal, had Taupiri ahead 17-10 at halftime, and still ahead by that score well into the second half.
But Te Rapa managed to apply pressure late in the game and win the match.
George kicked astutely for territory and from that advantage kicked four further penalty goals, while halfback David Bason scored the side's second try, running on the blind side from a scrum with 10 minutes of play remaining, then crashing through the desperate Taupiri defence to score.
University44
Utd Matamata Sports7
It was fine for the first 15 minutes and the last 15 minutes and that was when all the points were scored in this match at Bedford Park.
The Varsity side scored three tries in each half in those fine periods, getting out to an early 22-7 lead and then had to adjust to the slower tempo that suited the combative UMS pack once the rain came.
It didn't make for pretty rugby with 10-man tactics the order of the day but University sorted themselves out eventually and as the sun came out they got into try-scoring mode again.
Second-five Joe Murray was a standout, regularly finding the gaps in the UMS defence behind a student pack that was finding its feet with a few new faces in the mix for this game.
