PNBHS NEWS

Gisborne beaten - only 4th time in 30 years.

 
Picture of Dominic King
Gisborne beaten - only 4th time in 30 years.
by Dominic King - Monday, 29 May 2017, 12:09 PM
 

The 1st XV travelled to Gisborne to play the first round of the Super Eight on the weekend.  As part of the fixture, the 2nd XV and Colts teams also travelled up in what is a keenly anticipated traditional fixture.

The conditions on the day were best described as testing with heavy rain for all three games.  Conditions underfoot were good though and both teams in the 1st XV game played attacking rugby from the outset.  An early error from the kick off allowed PNBHS to get into attacking shape and the opening possession and territory stakes belonged to us.  Gisborne were struggling to exit their own half through their kicking game and our back field runners were doing an excellent job in maintaining the pressure when they did get a kick away.  Indeed it was from a kick that we scored our first try after some excellent lead up work from Jacob Hewetson-Talamaivao.  From the kick off our attempted exit put us under pressure with a breach out wide but our scramble defence performed excellently and we were able to limit the damage to a penalty kick.   Our kick off went deep to again maintain territory pressure and again they tried to kick long.  The kick was fielded and James Stratton was released up the middle of the park.  50 metres later he crossed the try line having scored a superb try.  The rest of the first half played out predominantly in between the 22’s with both teams struggling with their handling in the wet conditions.  We were making breaks through some string running but as we looked for our support our decision making sometimes deserted us and we were unable to finish the movement off.  14-3 at the half.

The second half was much the same with Gisborne mounting attacks through their forwards and our counterattack game breaching them out wide.  Gisborne had more possession in the second half and our defence was tested for extended periods of time but we remained resolute.  For a ten minute period through the middle of the half we were in the attacking zone and a good break from Stewart Cruden allowed him to score the team’s third try to extend their lead out to 21-3.  More scoring opportunities were created and we could have scored more tries but for some wayward final passes under pressure.  Going forward we will need to be far more clinical with execution as the manner in which the breaks were being made deserves better finishing.  The last ten minutes of the game was spent with 14 on the field and Gisborne were camped in our 22 but again our defence was superb and we held the home team tryless for the game.

This was only the 5th time we have beaten Gisborne in Gisborne in thirty years and the first time we have beaten them since 2009, underlining the difficulty of winning following the long trip up.  The fact that both the 2nds and Colts also won made the trip home more enjoyable for all the teams and the large contingent of parents and family who travelled up to support us. 

The team has Queens Birthday off before playing Hastings and Hamilton, arguably the top two teams in the country at the moment, in successive weekends – a massive opportunity and one the team is looking forward to.

Points Scorers:

Tries:                       Sam Stewart

                                    James Stratton

                                    Stewart Cruden

Conversions:      Stewart Cruden x 3

 

 Pictures of the game, click this link     1st XV vs Gisborne BHS