Team – Div 1

Bar Manager – Kieran

Lock Up – Brick

 

DIV 1 – COURTESY OF THE CRFU WEBSITE

UNIVERSITY v LINCOLN UNIVERSITY

 

At Rugby Park: University 31 (Brad Hemopo, Braydon Ennor, Morgyn Cowan, Rob Sullivan, Tana Luke tries; Brad Hemopo 3 conv) beat Lincoln University 25 (Luke McKenna, Josh McKay, Harrison Groundwater tries; Brett Cameron 2 conv, pen; Ere Enari pen). HT: 12-22. Referee: K Hancox. 

In the battle of the universities, Canterbury University staged a remarkable turnaround to come from behind to beat Lincoln University.

Down 22-5 after 25min, University turned the tables on Lincoln, scoring 26 unanswered points to close out the match.

Lincoln had got off to a flying start, scoring two long-range tries to race out to a 12-0 lead.

The first try was scored by openside flanker Luke McKenna following a clearing kick from University which failed to find touch 60m out. Lincoln showed great support play to keep the ball alive, and McKenna was on hand to finish off the move.

Lincoln fullback Josh McKay scored the second try, which resulted from a lineout steal inside Lincoln territory. Spreading the ball wide right and then back to the left – Lincoln created a hole in the University defence that McKay was able to exploit to dot down under the posts.

University struck back through a try to No.8 Brad Hemopo, but the respite would be short-lived.

Terrible defence from University lead to Lincoln’s third try, with second-five Harrison Groundwater bouncing off some feeble tackles to cancel out the previous score.

When first-five Brett Cameron knocked over a penalty to extend the lead to 22-5 after 25min, Lincoln appeared to be well in control of the game, and were pushing for the knock-out blow to seal the match.

Two minutes later it looked like Lincoln were about to score again after a set move from a lineout. However, a huge try-saving tackle from University halfback Finlay Christie stopped the attack’s momentum and led to a turnover.

Lincoln had another opportunity to put the game away on the 37min mark, but Cameron knocked the ball on while making a lunge for the try-line.

Just before the half-time break, Lincoln had one last crack at the University defence, launching a counter-attack from a quick throw-in.

This attack proved to be a costly mistake though, with University rushing up quickly and forcing a turnover. A chip-and-chase from the ruck caught Lincoln on the hop, with centre Braydon Ennor outpacing the cover defence to race over and score.

University started the second half strongly, with openside flanker Morgyn Cowan scoring from a driving maul on 44min. All of a sudden, Lincoln’s lead had closed to 22-17 and the momentum had swung towards University.

Over the next 20min, University began to take control of the game, launching wave after wave of attack against the Lincoln goal-line. Lincoln, who had played with such confidence in the first half, seemed bereft of ideas and were unable to make any headway against an aggressive University defensive line.

After 59 min, the pressure eventually paid off for University, with first-five Rob Sullivan unlocking the Lincoln defence with a neat right-foot step to score under the posts.

With the conversion from Hemopo, University took the lead for the first time in the match, pushing ahead 24-22.

University completed the comeback 5min later with reserve prop Tana Luke barrelling over to score and put the game beyond Lincoln’s reach.

Halfback Christie was a standout for University. While a constant danger on attack with his passing and running, Christie made his mark on defence, pulling off a number of crucial covering tackles to stifle the Lincoln attack.

In the forwards, Hemopo provided go-forward ball off the back of the scrum, while lock Caleb Aperahama was also a workhorse with ball in hand.

For Lincoln, Cameron had a strong game, distributing well for his backline and controlling territory with the boot.

The loose forward trio worked hard all day, with Hugo Nankivell leading the charge with his direct running.

Hawkins MVP: Finlay Christie (University) 3, Brad Hemopo (University) 2, Caleb Aperahama (University) 1.

 

WOMEN – COURTESY OF SOPHIE ANDERSON

Another milestone this week..
Congratulations Julia Smith for ticking off her 100 games for university, Julia had been in the team since 2009 and rarely misses a game, she has almost played every position you can play, just the tight five to go… Theres still time Jules, you may just end up there one day!
Moving on to the game.
Viperettes win – Polar Bears lost
I mentioned last week and our leaders gift of the gab when speaking to the ref, well this week the ref didn’t like the captain asking a question and sent Whit to the bin for a 10 min rest and i guess that was how the ref was the whole game, we didn’t adapt and it cost us.
After last weeks game you would have thought we had pulled up our socks and played a blinder, unfortunately that was not the case and we made things difficult for ourselves, we did bring home the win just not the way we intended to. With a break this week we have some time to sort this out and come back strong next week, we know what we have to do girls lets do it.
Side note: After some Banter in sat night and the coach a few bourbons down, we thought it would be great if he turned out for the tigers. Ernie came up with some conditions – he won’t play in snow, and he has to be captain and play anywhere he wants and for as long as he wants, Kays were we were to make a roster to look after him the week following.

Unsure if the tigers have take him up on the offer or if Ernies conditions were too tough to work with but watch this space…

DIV 2 – COURTESY OF JUSTIN RAFTON

Varsity survived a second half scare to Shirley, getting up in the end by two scores, 45-31.

In the midst of university exams, it was a last minute scramble for the starting 15, let alone finding a dressing 22 on Saturday. And a lack of fluidity in the squad showed early as Shirley exposed an initially weak defense around the ruck to rumble into UCs half, and get over for the first score.

But following some stern words from captain Jamie Verstappen, this may have been the wake up call the lads needed. The Yams then went on the attack from that kickoff and started to put foot to throat, metaphorically speaking. A gameplan to expose the slow running Shirley defense began to work a treat, as there was miles of real estate on both wings for the backs to eat up.

It began with second five Oscar Nesbitt hitting a gap in the midfield and finding his twin on his right who showed immense pace to scream in for his first on the day. Then it was the other Jonty; the bruising lock Jonty Duncan who trotted over in the right midfield, after some quick thinking by Verstappen from a 5m penalty.

The tryfest continued with Jonty ‘Mayo’ Nesbitt finding all the reward, scoring another 3 tries in the half (and now having to owe the lads a crate for his efforts). Jaden ‘Wally’ Wallace went good with the boot without so much pressure this week, finishing the day going 5 from 7. With the score 31-7 at half, the Yams were positive and wanted to keep this scoring train going and make their mark felt before the start of the second round.

However, dampered by multiple injuries in key positions, the defense again showed holes and allowed Shirley to take control of the game. Multiple infractions with the offside line eventuated in Japanese wing Genki Arita being yellow carded in his short-lived cameo for the Yams. It was with this man advantage that Shirley would strike back into the game. They exposed the blindside and weak tackling of the outer defense, scoring three tries and a penalty during those 10 minutes to bring the scores level.

In dire need to stop the opposing momentum, and shift it back in their favour, Coach Jared Brixton called on his reinforcements; and it proved the difference. Ryan Lill brought his trademark openside skills to the table, stealing pill and Fraser Bryant returned to eight where he was a beast on defense, hurting the opposition with his thundering shoulder. He also brought fresh legs into the attack, and slipped under the post twice to seal the win, after breaks by Jamie Verstappen and Oscar Nesbitt respectively.

The lads look to keep building on this win, as they come to the last game of the first round against Suburbs. Special mention has to go to flanker Torin Rensford (congratulations on the recent engagement) and Fraser Bryant for their stellar defense, leading the boys by example off the line. Halfback Takumi Kawahara continues to improve at halfback when given the opportunity. Oscar Nesbitt played a large role in many of the tries, finding the gap before offloading to his speedier brother.

Brett Menefy Players’ Man of the Match: Jonty Nesbitt, he was everywhere from scoring four tries to making try saving tackles at fullback to having the reliable clearance kick.

 

COLTS PREM –

 

DIV 3 TIGERS – COURTESY OF SEF ERASITO

The keyword going in to Saturday was “FINISH”. Having not being able to score tries after making the breaks and building on phases the previous game, there was a lot of focus on how we needed to finish those plays off. And “FINISH” we did, coming away with a 15-6 win against Marist Albion. And having lost to Marist for the past two seasons within a try this win was extra satisfying.

The Tigers have found another dimension in their gameplay by adding some tactical kicking to their arsenal with Ethan ‘Piri’ Harrison and Mike Nicholl making sure we were playing on the right half of the field with their boot. And when Adam ‘Soda’ Walker came on to replace Nicholl the kicking trend continued.

There was also some strong running lead by Vaini ‘Tiny’ Kauvaka and his trade mark palm-to-the-face fend and who would bump off two players before being wrestled to the ground by another three. That sent the bench mark for the rest of the ball runners who were determine to at least shake off one defender with every run. Luke Marsh continued to impress at fullback leading the counter attack and darting through defenders to gain some quick meters. And it was a great line by centre Hayden ‘HT’ Thomson, running hard that clinched the game in the last 10 minutes.

There was also a scary moment in the game as make shift winger Hide Okada was taken out in mid-air, Okada eventually recovered, shrugged it off and continued like a true battler, couldn’t say the same about the Marist player that ran into him who had to be taken off with a concussion. There was also some debate as to whether or not taking a player out in mid-air, whether malice intent or accidental, warranted a sending off. The Tigers lost that debate but that was the only thing we lost that day.

We had a very strong bench, where players came off and made an impact on the field. It showed that there is still a lot of competition within the team for starting spots. Andy Jordon came on charged like a running bull, Jack Armstrong chased down every kick and made sure no one passed him on his wing and there was also strong contributions from Brad Dean, Chris ‘Grimace’ Risbridger and Richard Barton. Shotaro Nakagaki continued to impress with his kicking, slotting in a penalty 40m out.

With another win under the belt, the Tigers next objective is to learn how to celebrate when we do win. As every win this season has been more of a relief, I think the Tigers still have the capacity to wreak havoc and party like its 1999 and considering there are a few numbers who were actually old enough to party in 1999, we’ll leave it to you to show us how to celebrate a win.

POD: Vaini ‘Tiny’ Kauvaka for his uncompromising get out of my way running and Hide Okada for playing out of position, bouncing back from a mid-air collision and being a menace on the wing.

Chur.

Also all the best to those who still have exams.

COLTS – no game this week