Notices

Please note this date in your diaries, teams that train on a Tuesday night are asked to make sure they are in the clubrooms at 6 to make sure we get a quorum for the AGM. Apologies to coaches for the lateness of their players, but we aim to have it all wrapped up by 6:25pm

 

Club Day – Saturday 21st May

One thing the exec were wanting to do this year is to invited the parents and family of each team’s players along for and evening at the clubrooms. We’ve decided to do this on our Club day, which is on the 21st of May. So, please extend the invitation on our behalf.

Subs – thanks to the overwhelming majority of players who have paid their subs in full and on time. For those who haven’t the account number is 01 0833 0077395 00. Full season subs are now $175 for those who have yet to pay anything. Those who are paying off in installments and started before April 2nd pay $150.

 

Events

7th May – Band Night and Netball Fridge Raffle. Come dressed in theme, with the first letter of your team as your inspiration. See here for more details.

10th May – AGM

14th May – Lincoln Uni Clash at LU

21st May – Club Day

28th May – Quiz Night

 

Duty

Bar Duty Team: Tigers

Bar Manager: Holly (Netball)

Lock Up: Grimace

Match Reports

Div 1 – courtesy of the CRFU website

At Burnside Park: University 51 (Marty McKenzie 3, Braydon Ennor 2, Bradley Hemopo 2, Nigel Gibb, Isaac Leota tries; Marty McKenzie 3 conv) beat Burnside 19 (Mitch Rhodes, Josh Gibbons, Sam Prosser tries; Luke Reihana 2 conv). HT: 29-0. Referee: Liam Scanlon. Sin-bin: Ben Kleinjan (Burnside).

It was a one-sided contest at Burnside Park, with University notching up nine tries to cruise to victory over Burnside.

The star of the show was undoubtedly fullback Marty McKenzie, who sparked the University attack, putting together a hat-trick of tries.

With their victory, University are now on a winning streak of three while Burnside are still yet to put a win on the board this season.

The match started badly for Burnside, with first-five James Logan sending the ball directly into touch from the kick-off. University then caught Burnside napping – throwing the ball in quickly and surging into opposition territory.

With the Burnside defence already stretched thin out wide, Marty McKenzie ghosted through and opened the scoring with less than 5min on the clock.

This opening exchange would set the tone for the rest of the game. On the scoreboard, the first half was all University, and they scored a further four tries to secure the bonus-point before the half-time whistle.

Burnside were not without their chances, however, and enjoyed a slight advantage in both territory and possession in the first half.

Wayward handling proved costly for them though. While hot on attack in University territory, an errant pass was snapped up by McKenzie. He offloaded the ball to left wing Braydon Ennor, who raced 90m past the covering defence to dot down under the posts.

Trailing 29-0 at the break, Burnside came out in the second half with a renewed sense of purpose.

After launching a number of attacks deep into University territory, Burnside’s pressure eventually paid off. Tries to halfback Mitch Rhodes and reserve prop Josh Gibbons, capitalising on some fairly soft University defence, narrowed the score to 29-12.

The momentum soon swung back University’s way though, as they piled on another four tries to put the result beyond any doubt.

McKenzie picked up his hat-trick with a terrific individual try. Drifting into the line from fullback about 40m out, he stood-up his marker before chipping the full back and regathering the ball over the goal-line to score, à la Jeff Wilson.

Their final try was scored by No.8 Bradley Hemopo, who finished off a sweeping counter-attacking move to canter over in the left-hand corner.

The standout performer for University was undoubtedly McKenzie. Through both his elusive running and clever offloading, McKenzie was a genuine threat every time he touched the ball. The only flaw in his game was his goal-kicking, which was a sub-par three from eight (the last conversion attempt was taken by first-five Robert Sullivan).

In the forwards, Hemopo also played superbly, scoring two tries and setting up two more with some excellent offloading. Lock Danny Berghan consistently got over the gain-line with his powerful running.

For Burnside, while the backline struggled with their cohesion, the forward pack acquitted themselves well. Co-captain Tom Lindsay ran hard all game from the No.8 position, while hooker Ged Robinson was industrious in the tight exchanges and accurate at line-out time.

 

Women – No Report Received

46 – 19 win vs Suburbs

Liv McGoverne was player of the day.

 

Div 2 – Courtesy of Justin Rafton

It truly was a back and forth tilt out at Rawhiti with the scoreline not giving the Div 2 boys the credit they deserved, as they fell in a tough battle 20-37 against New Brighton. For the third time in the last three years, the Yams have had to make the trip out to the beaches to play this rivalled side.

Coming off a tough loss last weekend and an embarrassment against New Brighton a year earlier, the lads came out with something to prove. Early aggression and accuracy allowed the Yams to make easy work of the New Brighton defensive line, as the ‘White Bus’ Jack Mcleod cut through the line to score his first try of the year. New Brighton would answer right back on their own attack, finding space on the right to dot down in the corner. Injuries in the backline began to plague the team as both the second five, Jack McLeod (ribs) and fullback Ryan Wilkes (ankle) had to leave the game. This rattled the team a bit and New Brighton came right back at the substitutes with the next try, again on the right side. The Yams though still had plenty of fight in them and went back hard on attack, with sharp midfield running from the likes of locks Torin Rensford, Sam McDell and eight Fraser Bryant.

The penalties began to pile up on New Brighton, and after two tip tackles, their scrumhalf was finally sent off with a yellow. This provided the space the Yam backs needed to let loose; and they did just that. First it was the devastating running of Jonty Nesbitt on the right side that got the Yams deep into the opposing 22, before he finished the passage off diving just inside the flag. Then five-eighth Henry Boon used his elusive left step to break the New Brighton line, and score under the posts. The lads let a soft one over right before half, but still felt they were on the up, only down by 2. The second half began with a multitude of ruck penalties being called against the Yams; they could not buy a right call at the breakdown. Being marched down the field with the referee’s assistance, New Brighton was able to make space outside for their wingers to beat the Uni wingers one-on-one. And thanks to a strong kicker, New Brighton continued to make the Varsity boys pay slotting conversions and penalties at will. The Yams never lost hope or went down in intent. They were almost over with 20 minutes to go before Fraser Bryant was (wrongly) called back for being ‘tackled’ and then continuing to run and score the try. The pressure continued and soon Boon was over for his second, thanks to a nice draw and pass by McDell.

After defeat, the chat was remained positive and the boys resolute on their determination. The lads look to continue on the up and get back to their winning ways as they return to the good ole Veggie Patch next week to host Lyttelton. After the game when approached for a comment, Varsity lock Sam McDell reiterated, “the cogs are starting to come together; another week or two together the boys will see results come our way”. Special mention has to go to Fraser Bryant, who was a machine around the park, Torin Rensford who excelled in the #6 jersey, and the strong running of centre Oscar Nesbitt let him find gaps and exploit them. Captain Jamie Verstappen was simply inspirational, playing on after an early leg injury to fight his way and lead the lads through a tough 80-minute grind.

‘Brett Menefy’ Man of the Match: Jonty Nesbitt (aka Honey Badger) played outstanding, breaking the line at will, having a deft touch with the boot and beating opposing players with his immense pace.

 

Colts Prem Pythons – courtesy of Jamie Leen

24 – 8 win vs Belfast

The forwards came together for a much anticipated forwards battle against Belfast and did outstanding in a large majority of the scrums and were a powerhouse in the lineouts with some crisp throwing from Tim Stone. This provided some quality ball for the backs to work their magic and dot down a few times in the first half while the second half was a little more scrappy.

Jonny Pethybridge got player of the day as he was outstanding in the backline and carved up the defence throughout the match and scored try of the game. Through a stolen lineout and slick hands through the backs to where he got the ball and charged up the sideline beating defender after defender to score. We now look forward to the next few games in which Tim Stone looks to make his debut as goal kicker after plenty of work in the off season.

 

Div 3 Tigers – Courtesy of Grimace

It was another tough day at the office for the Tigers as they went down  to High School Old Boys at home on Saturday. Despite having trained really well on Wednesday they were unable to get in to the game early enough on Saturday and the result showed. During a weak first half poor coordination and soft, high tackles were the order of the day and they went into the break down 31 to nil.

In the second half things were looking a lot better as the Tigers were able to keep the ball in hand and get some good go-forward ball from the likes of Lofi Setu and Luke Marsh. The score should have been better were it not for a couple of terrible unforced errors from a seasoned campaigner who really ought to know better. Captain Logan Thomson lead by example and was ably supported in the loose by flankers Jedi Watts and Dane Hart. Tighthead prop Vainikolo “Tiny” Kauvaka was a rock in the scrums and new recruit Richard “Barts” Barton lead from the front throughout the game. Barts returns to the club after an extensive time overseas, having last donned the boots for UC in the last millenium.

It was not the result we wanted to gift to stalwart Tiger Logan Whyte, who ticked off his 50th game on Saturday, and we will look to knuckle down and work harder in the games ahead. This week the Tigers are playing Christchurch at Christchurch Park on Friday night and would love any extra support if people are at a loose end.

Player of the day – Jed Watts for working tirelessly and tackling well

Dick of the day – Grimace, the aforementioned seasoned campaigner