Notices

Club Day – Saturday 21st May (Colts Players Especially)

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.

Vipers in representative teams

Congratulations to Elia Elia (Div 1) who has been in action for the Samoan U20 team, Caleb Aperahama (Div 1) with the NZ U20 team, Liz Pera (Women) with the Cook Islands 7s team attempting to qualify for Rio, and Kendra Cocksedge and Jessie Hansen who’ve been involved with the Black Ferns Wider Training Squad.

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

10th May – AGM

14th May – Lincoln Uni Clash at LU

21st May – Club Day

28th May – Quiz Night – $5 per person, teams of max. 5 players. Get your entries in to Grimace: crisbridger@gmail.com.

Duty

No Duty this week – clubrooms closed.

Match Reports

Div 1 – courtesy of the CRFU website

At Ilam 1: University 35 (Finlay Christie 2, Bradley Hemopo, Nic Brooker, Braydon Ennor tries; Hemopo 2 conv, 2 pen) beat Linwood 22 (Alex Hodgman, Aayden Clarke, Pita Anae-Ah Sue, Jordan Stewart tries; Clarke conv) HT: 27-7. Referee: Mike Pinfold (Wellington). Sin-bin: Isaac Leota (University).

University showed why they went into round six on top of the table after they executed their opportunities better than Linwood.

In a tale of two halves, University raced out of the blocks, scoring four tries to one in a dominant opening half showing. University opened the scoring after 3min when Bradley Hemopo converted a penalty goal from in front before livewire halfback Finlay Christie stamped his mark on the contest. With Linwood hot on attack in the opposition 22m, University got a breakdown turnover which Christie cleared down field. With no Linwood player able to gather possession, the bounce of the ball fell to Christie, who sprinted 30m down the right hand touch-line to make it 8-0. Linwood soon found themselves back on attack however after receiving back-to-back penalties and it wasn’t long before they reduced the gap to one point with prop Alex Hodgman barging over from close range. A few minutes later University found themselves reduced to 14-men after Isaac Leota was sin-binned for a ruck infringement. It had little effect on them, however, as they profited with two tries in the 10min period without their second-five. First Christie completed his second after a good inter-change of passing, which included a strong off load by Jimmy Tupou, before No.8 Hemopo completed a break out movement wide on the left after a break up the middle of the park by Nic Brooker. With University back to a full complement, Christie went from scorer to provider as he produced a sniping run from a ruck after quick ball before he released an offload to fullback Brooker who crossed to put Varsity up 27-7 at half-time.

Down 20 going into the second half, Linwood did anything but throw in the towel as they raced out of the blocks, finding themselves hot on attack early in the second half. After a sustained period of possession, with the ball being spread from side to side in University’s 22m, the pressure finally told on the University defence when Aayden Clarke crossed out wide. After Hemopo added a penalty for University, Linwood crossed again through Pita Anae-Ah Sue after sustained territorial dominance. University’s ability to take the opportunities presented was shown when Braydon Ennor crossed for their only try in the second half on one of their few forays into Linwood’s half, before Jordan Stewart scored Linwood’s fourth.

Christie continued his brilliant season, scoring University’s first two tries, with his sniping runs and probing kicks constantly having Linwood’s defence on edge. Lock Tupou made some big busts from his own half in University’s strong first half as he showed his blinding speed that he has from being a regular loose forward. Tupou’s ability to offload in the tackle providing quick ball and space for Christie to cross for his second try and he was also reliable at lineout time. Hemopo is a man of many talents. Playing at No.8 he finished off a sweeping movement for a try and was also the team’s goal-kicker, netting four of his seven attempts.

A strong runner with ball in hand, he regularly got University on the front foot and was dangerous when he ranged wide in the backline.

Women – BYE

A mysterious looking group of cyclists was spotted in the vicinity on Saturday afternoon and evening, with Harriet Meates making a cameo appearance amongst the throng for a “Team Bonding Extravaganza”. We hope the heads weren’t too sore come Sunday.

Div 2 – Courtesy of Justin Rafton

An unfortunate turn of events saw the Yams fall to Lyttelton 13-19 at home on May 7th.

For another week, it all started so well for the Div 2 boys. From the opening kickoff, the Yams went on attack. Their defence was like a wall early, coming off and stopping Lyttelton behind the gain line; something lacking from previous games. When they got their hands on the ball, the team constantly found gaps, ending up in the opposition half for most of the first 40. However, finishing was not coming easy for the Yams. Though they had the majority of the possession, Uni would not cross the line in the first half; they were left with only a penalty thanks to the boot of first five Benjamin Fox. The last play of the first half was one of the series of unfortunate events that really defined the day. After a quick tap on five metres out, a sloppy pass led to a turnover and Lyttelton marched the ball down the field to score an unearned try.

The second half started much the same as the first. Uni again showed their dominance, especially at scrum time. The talk at the half seemed to have worked as the pressure on the opposition defence began to show cracks. Off of a strong line out win, Fox found Fraser Bryant in a hole and the big man raced under the post. Lyttelton answered a short time later on the right wing, giving them a two point advantage. Nearing the end, Uni drew a penalty from a scrum just to the left with Fox making no mistake to give the Yams a one point advantage in this see-saw affair. But it was the final play that would decide the outcome, as Lyttelton would get over on a pick and go on the line to deny the Yams. The hopes now turn to this Saturday out at Lincoln to turn this losing funk around. Special mention has to go to Fraser Bryant for some storming runs, both props Justin Rafton and Kensei Kobayashi for dominating scrum performances and wingers Anthony Taite and Hamish Paterson who made metres on the outside.

‘Brett Menefy’ Players’ Man of the Match: Sam McDell was a beast with ball in hand, reliable at line out time and helped run the pattern effectively.

Colts Prem – BYE

Div 3 Tigers – Courtesy of Sef Erasito

The Tigers had their annual Friday night lights game against Christchurch. We came away with a loss, 24-7, but managed to tidy up on a lot of things that were lacking in the last two games, and I think if we weren’t playing a team that has only lost one match this season the result would have been different. They scored early in both halves and were mostly on defence mode as we probably had most of the territory and possession. It was hard to build phases as Christchurch’s penalty count in the ruck area piled up and we were guilty of giving up a few of them too.

Our midfield defence was tough and solid and didn’t allow many opposition through. And the forwards were active with ball in hand, sucking in opposition forwards with pick-n-go’s and one off passes from the ruck, bustling over for a try in the first half thanks to Logan Thompson. Ethan Harrison did well to lead the backs as he switched from 2^nd 5 to 1^st 5 when Luke Marsh came off with an injury in the first half and then Ethan moving one closer to the forwards as an injury to Hide Okada saw him come off in the second half. Truth is, is that Harrison knows that all the fun is in the forwards and just wanted to get amongst it.

We were guilty of over committing numbers in the first and second rucks and so were left to scramble for numbers as Christchurch had the over-lap on the outside, which is where two of their tries came from. It was never going to be easy trying to get back into the game against one of the top teams in the grade but we had our chances and made a few plays and knowing, that with the right attitude, that we are capable of doing that should give us confidence for the second half of the season.

Big thanks to the supporters who came down on a chilly Friday night, probably one of the biggest group of supporters on the sideline we’ve had this season.

Player of the Day was Dane Hart

Colts – report courtesy of Angus Short

Saturdays game saw the colts team take a nail biting 23-16 win over Ashley. It wasn’t the cleanest win of the season, with many mistakes and penalties being conceded. Nonetheless, the colts team are still undefeated and there were several positives able to be taken from the performance. The first half saw the colts having minimal possession of the ball and having to do defend for long periods of time.

When the boys did end up with ball in hand, they often looked threatening out wide through the pace of the outside backs and the solid running by many forward runners. After Ashley drawing first blood with a push over try, we were able to stay in touch and then snatch the lead thanks to a try from fullback Harrison McPhail who also kicked two penalties, resulting in a score line of 11-5 at half time. In the second half we continued to get penalized, resulting in Ashley kicking two penalties of their own to make it 11-11.

With approximately 15 minutes to go Harrison McPhail broke the line and swerved his way 60 metres to dot down for his second try. Ashley responded with one of their own not long after making the score line 16-16. With everyone on the edges of their seat, prop Kyle Bosselmann handed it on to Michael Taituave who touched down for the match winner.

 Band Night Report

Thanks to everyone who rocked up on Saturday and had a good nudge at our first social event of the season. There was clearly a lot of effort put in to the costumes by a large number of you. The Div 2 Divas were declared the best dressed Rugby team.

Here are a smattering of pictures: