This match, part of the Hurricanes Schools' Festival if Rugby was played in Gisborne on Saturday. The final score was a win to PNBHS 27-23. From the coach, Mr van Stipriaan, "A courageous effort and the boys fought right to the end!"
To view pics, click on this link: St Pat's Town
Full Report from Mr van Stipriaan
St Pats Town Report
The PNBHS 1st XV completed its preseason build up prior to the start of the Super 8 campaign with a good tussle against St Pats Town (Wellington) in the sunny climes of Gisborne yesterday.
The team started well but were unable to capitalise on it’s early possession, missing a very kickable penalty and then knocking the ball on with the try line beckoning. However we were playing in the right parts of the field and making good decisions on attack. St Pats Town were struggling to get into the game but were handed a gift on a silver platter with an intercept try. This let them into the game and the battle was on. A strong run from Brayden Iose of the back of a scrum put James Stratton away only for the opposition to score again. The tit for tat continued with Brayden Iose himself dotting down after some strong work from Michael Ioane and Stewart Cruden. The half time score was 15-15 with both sides working hard defensively at the breakdown.
The second half saw much of the same with both sides enjoying the swings of momentum. Matene Ruawai started to have more and more of an impact on the game with some crushing runs, one of which led to a try for himself to put us 20-18 up at the three quarter mark. Mistakes and ill-discipline around the offside line kept giving the opposition easy looks at our try line and while our defence continued to work hard, St Pats Town managed a well worked set piece try to go ahead 23-20 with 8 minutes left to play. Again the team went back to their strengths and looked to move the opposition around the field. This created an attacking opportunity that resulted in Stewart Cruden taking a gap and running twenty metres in to score the winning try, final score 27-23.
The game was pleasing in the fact that we had to fight hard to get out of a hole we had created through some inaccuracies at the breakdown, some forced, some not. That we got out of it required some excellent mental resolve and team work to do so. This will hopefully spur us on to ongoing development as we head into hosting Gisborne 1st XV in the 1st round of the Super 8 this coming weekend.
Point Scorers:
Tries: James Stratton, Brayden Iose, Matene Ruawai, Stewart Cruden
Conversions: Stewart Cruden 2
Penalties: Stewart Cruden
