PNBHS NEWS

1st XV vs Francis Douglas from New Plymouth

 
Picture of Dominic King
1st XV vs Francis Douglas from New Plymouth
by Dominic King - Thursday, 5 May 2016, 2:34 PM
 

First White Jersey game of the season. Good win - 39-0

Match Report:

The 1st XV kicked off its white jersey campaign today with the now traditional fixture against Francis Douglas Memorial College from New Plymouth.  Both sides have been evenly matched in the last three years and it is a much awaited game in the fixture list for both schools.

We started well securing the kick off and going straight onto attack.  Play went through five phases before space was created on the edge before Wesley Veikoso showed a superb set of hands to pick a ball of his toes while accelerating and passing to put Brayden Iose away for a try.  This set the tone for the day with the forwards working very hard through the middle of the field to create space on the edges for our loosies and backs to exploit.  Further breaches were made in the first ten minutes but some inaccuracies in the last passes meant that try scoring opportunities were not being taken.  The pressure on the FDMC line did tell in the end of this period with a well taken try to Stewart Cruden after a quick tap from Hunter Waller.  The opposition capitalised on some breakdown penalties and spent some time in our 22, making multiple attempts to drive over from lineouts however our defence was staunch and resisted their charges.  A courageous break-out from a 5 metre nearly resulted in further points but got us into the right part of the field to exert more pressure.  Some strong running from Ariki Mullen led to a try to Ethan Helu-Makasini and Mackenzie Tansley finished off a good period of play to score the 4th try of the half.  Brayden Iose then showed his pace after coming off a good short ball from Stewart Cruden to score his second try and the team went into the break 29-0 up.

In the second half, there was much of the same with plenty of space being created around the field to attack.  However as the fatigue levels started to increase, so too did the number of handling errors.  Playing into the wind, the team had to withstand more goal line pressure from the opposition and we worked hard to hold to our line intact.  When we went onto attack our ruck work was inconsistent however enough work was done to create two more tries - one to Hunter Waller and a second to the industrious Mackenzie Tansley. 

The final score was 39-0 with seven tries being scored.  Pleasingly we were able to hold FDMC to zero points with some good defence, especially in our own 22.  The breakdown remains a work on as does our ability to shift the ball rapidly once space has been created. 

Our next game is against Wellington College on Saturday at 11am up at Massey Rugby Institute.

Points Scorers:

Tries:     Brayden Iose                     2

               Mackenzie Tansley           2

               Stewart Cruden

               Ethan Helu-Makasini

               Hunter Waller

Conversions:       Stewart Cruden                 2


Click on the link to view more pictures of the game - Francis Douglas pics