Thanks to everyone; friends, family and Old Maroons; who came along for Club Day on Saturday. It was great to see so many supporters and we hope you survived the weather!

Apologies to Rob Sullivan, who was due to be presented with his 50 games cap by Old Maroon and former All Black John Creighton on Saturday Night. John wasn’t able to stay long and with speeches delayed by the visit of the licensing authorities it didn’t happen as planned.

Notices

Bar service and who’s allowed on the premises

Those of you in the clubrooms on Saturday night will have noticed our visit from the license inspector. They were happy with how things were in the clubrooms but did advise us that we need to brush up a bit on some of our procedures, especially around who is on-site. In a nutshell:

People allowed in the clubrooms:

• Members of UCRFC (who should be carrying a membership card). If they have lost or misplaced it please check the list above the sound system.
• Members of UC Netball (who should also be carrying a membership card).
• Members of other rugby clubs as we all have reciprocal visiting rights courtesy of being affiliated to the CRFU.
• Members of other affiliated clubs with reciprocal visiting rights
• Anyone else on the premises needs to be a guest of a member of UCRFC or UC Netball, and SIGNED IN to the visitors book as such, including which club member signed them in.

Please do not be offended if you are asked for your membership card. If you haven’t received one, or have lost yours, please contact me urgently on crisbridger@gmail.com so I can arrange one for Saturday.

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

28th May – Quiz Night – $5 per person, teams of max. 5 players. Can team captains please email me with their team names if they haven’t done so already – crisbridger@gmail.com. This makes coordination on the night that little bit easier.

Duty

Bar Manager – Kieran Howden

Lock Up – Bricky

Duty Team – Colts

Match Reports

Div 1 – courtesy of the CRFU website

At Ilam 1: New Brighton 27 (Aaron McCoy 2, Lucas Hill tries; Scott Davidson 3 conv, 2 pen) beat University 8 (Braydon Ennor try; Nic Brooker pen). HT: 17-8. Referee: Nick Webster (North Otago).

New Brighton sweated on a discussion between North Otago referee Nick Webster and assistant referee Colin Hammond to see whether it had scored the bonus-point try, but after a long consultation the answer went against the seasiders.

The odds of a fourth New Brighton try were long as the visitors had managed only two in the first 78min, but they sensed a chance when No.8 Aaron McCoy crossed for the second time from a 5m scrum.

There was time for the kick-off and a sweeping counter-attack with forwards and backs stringing phases together and maintaining the ball especially well given the wet and slippery conditions. It looked as if Brighton might bag the fourth try as speedy fullback Scott Davidson slid in at the corner, taking the flag with him.

New Brighton started the celebrations whoops as referee Webster told Hammond he was not in a position to see the grounding. They discussed it before Webster ruled no try and blew for full-time. It was a close call but the correct decision was made.

A depleted University was rocked from the kick-off when it failed to control the rolling ball. New Brighton won an attacking lineout then dominated several scrums near the line before McCoy detached from the back and crashed over after 3min.

After 17min Brighton was in again through lock Lucas Hill. The Brighton forwards drove repeatedly at the line, and while University did well to thwart several surges on the paint, the pressure finally told as Hill was driven across by his fellow forwards.

University started rather carelessly and a little lethargically, but it lifted its game after the second Brighton try and forwards and backs combined to take play deep into its opponent 22m.

The students were rewarded for their patient build-up after 22min when first-five Rob Sullivan glided through to within metres of the line and the ball was recycled right where Brighton lacked numbers. Centre Nigel Gibb gave the perfect pass for fullback Braydon Ennor to cross out wide.

Davidson, who had converted both tries, added a penalty after 25min to give New Brighton a 17-8 lead which it maintained to half-time.

Nic Brooker kicked a penalty for University 3min after the restart but that was to be his team’s last points. With the southerly at its back, Brighton was able to kick deep and make it hard for University to leave it half. When University did make inroads and attack the line, the Brighton defence stood firm.

University also defended bravely with some desperation tackles made as Brighton runners made a series of breaks that threatened tries. A second Davidson penalty after 50min and McCoy’s late try completed the second-half scoring.

Young Hill acquitted himself well in his 60min, winning opposition lineout throws and tackling strongly around the fringes. Flanker Louis Harmon made some rampaging runs and the Brighton scrum, apart from conceding a tight-head in an attacking position, was rock solid and often had University back-pedalling.

Halfback Reuben Spicer ran the ship expertly in the first half and second-five Robbie Mulvena was an explosive attacker who broke many first tackles.

For University, lock Francis Auwerda proved a nuisance on Brighton’s lineout throws and No.8 and captain Sam Godwin got through a power of work. Halfback Finlay Christie cleared well under pressure and was reliable on defence while Ennor ran purposefully in his many forays into the backline.

Women

Win by default against Linwood but great to see all the ladies along for the afternoon and lending good support under trying conditions.

Div 2 – Courtesy of Jaden Wallace

Wally’s not currently doing a good job of filling Justin’s shoes, so here’s what the CRFU had to say about the game:

Tenth-placed Burnside overcame eighth-placed University, 20-12, in the division two curtain-raiser after leading 12-0 at the break.

While Burnside had the better of the first half, scoring twice, University was attacking strongly in the final minutes before the break and continued doing so throughout the third quarter despite running into the strong wind.

Fullback Henry Boon, who often moved to first-five, set up tries in the 50^th and 55^th minutes to level the score. He jinked past two defenders before being collared near the line, but openside flanker Ryan Lill was on hand for the first try. Then a well-weighted grubber by Boon into the corner led to University’s second try.

Burnside scored its third try after 65min and University was denied a bonus point when Burnside kicked a penalty in the last act of the game.

Hooker Ruairi Wilson, a Scottish import, was an abrasive runner for Burnside and centre Wayne McKenzie was ever alert for an intercept and rushed up to make some enveloping tackles. Boon and Lill was among University’s best, along with lock Jonty Duncan, who was useful in the lineouts and strong in taking the ball up.

Colts Prem – Courtesy of Kieran “Not Good with Details” Hunt

With winter upon us, we embraced ourselves for our first wet footy match of the season. Starting off with a bang for the Prem Colts, taking on High School Old Boys in a shield challenge. We were slow to get off the mark as a simple backs move cut open our defence to have HSOB lead 7-0 after only a few minutes. After a quick captains chat under the sticks we were fizzing to get down the other end. Josh Proctor was excellent as he took the ball off a scrum 30m out to make a 15m dash (carrying a few boys with him) leading to Harry Ferguson clasping the offload to dot down 5m out from the posts, 7-7. We were in control for much of the first half have scored off another scrum 5m out, thanks to a clever grubber kick from halfback Xavier Bartlett which saw First Five-eighth Kieran Hunt ground the ball in goal, 14-7. The scores stayed this way until mid-way through second half as HSOB scored two soft tries to take them up 19-14. We maintained the pressure down their end, eventually leading to a try in the left corner by wing, Max Street. With a successful conversion the scores stayed sealed at 21-19 for the remainder of the game. The boys were ecstatic after grabbing the challenge shield, but even happier about their second free crate in as many home games. Player of the day goes to Harry Ferguson for his outstanding work rate, and first try in a few years.

Div 3 Tigers – Courtesy of Sef Erasito

The Tigers were well beaten on Saturday, losing to Burnside 30-0. It was a game that we were targeting to win, however Burnside exposed our blind and slipped a few tackles around the park to get a victory over us. There was a lot of intensity during the game but the rain most likely washed away the game plan because there seemed to be a lot of rushing, panic and scrambling which affected the forwards from getting over the advantage line and giving out some good ball to the backs.

Despite weather conditions the lineouts mostly held together and scrums had improved since the last time we played them. And the backs had help from the Colts and Div 2 who gifted us three players and all showed some great skill and making positive contributions around the park. We also welcomed back Ryan “Cappy” Mornin from daddy day care leave, playing 80mins for his first game back this season, he was back to his usual self, running hard and tackling harder. Also David Rangiihu made his first appearance for the Tigers in almost 2 years and it was good to see him running some straight lines.

It’s definitely another wake-up call and hopefully we will get some good numbers at training and address these problems and prepare well for this weekend.

Player of the day went to open-side flanker Jed “Sparky” Watts for his high work rate all around the park both on defence and offence.

Colts – Courtesy of Matt Janett

It was a cold, wet, winters day that presented itself for the University of Canterbury Rugby Club Day, perfect conditions for the Rattlers. From the first breakdown it was evident that this was a different team from last week’s defeat to Lincoln. We came into this game with the right attitude and a point to prove to get the season back on track. After dominating the first half in cold conditions the second half proved to be a battle with the rain setting in.

Through a dominant performance from our fullback and player of the day Taine McQuoid (who got all but five of our points), the boys rallied up front in the breakdown and dominated in the backs. Whilst territory played a huge part in the game, our running game was strong and the forwards were able to keep the ball moving and made plenty of yards up front. A determined game changing charge down in the Christchurch twenty-two mid way through the first half led to Nic Adams diving on the ball just before the dead ball line. This lifted the boys and gave us the belief that we could go on to beat a solid Christchurch outfit.

Through clutch penalties in the second half by Taine (who didn’t miss a kick all day) and some good injection from the substitute players, we were able to maintain our lead and take out a well fought victory 26-13. It wasn’t until after the game we realised that the Colts challenge shield was up for grabs, this made the victory that much sweeter knowing that our Premiers had also grasped their shield challenge earlier that day. Two games, two shields; can’t ask for much more from the colts on club day.

Player of the Day was Tane McQuoid