PNBHS NEWS

Colts have a sound win against Hastings

 
Picture of Dominic King
Colts have a sound win against Hastings
by Dominic King - Sunday, 11 June 2017, 6:51 PM
 

PNBHS Colts 50 v Hastings BHS 19

Saturday 10th June at Hastings

After an early start, the team arrived in Hastings to be welcomed to a fine, warm day, ideal for running rugby. The team was under no illusion that this was going to be a tough assignment, especially after the strength of past Hastings BHS teams throughout all grades over the past 4-5 seasons.

PNBHS came out firing with Logan Love’s pinpoint kick off being athletically claimed by Elyjah Crosswell who ran to within 10 metres of the Hastings try line. A quick ruck and some aggressive short ball running resulted in Nasser Tato smashing his way over for a try beside the posts before the Hastings players had even had time to insert their mouthguards. Love’s conversion meant a dream start by the fizzing PNBHS side. 7 nil.

From the ensuring kick off, Crosswell and his fired-up mates again dominated in close before the backs were let loose and Kalis Mason went over out wide for the second try in the opening 4 minutes. 12 nil.

A well-executed back move from a defence position gave Reif Dawson the overlap who duly hit the turbo button and outsprinted the cover defence to score under the black dot. Loves conversion meant it was a 19 nil lead after 10 minutes.

PNBHS dominance in the scrums and the lineouts meant Hastings couldn’t get any momentum from which to launch an attack. When they did, ferocious tackling from Tiwha Rukuwai, Charlie Justice, Nasser Tato, Logan Hughes and Elyjah Crosswell meant the ball carriers were smashed back behind the advantage line which allowed Camryn Mabey, who had his best game for the Colts to date, to deliver some quick front foot ball to his backs who relished the space and opportunities.

A try by Crosswell from an old fashioned lineout drive and the subsequent conversion by Love meant PNBHS went into half time with a commanding 26 nil lead.

An error from the kick off at the start of the second half saw PNBHS let Hastings in for a soft try which gave Hastings some false hope of recovery.

PNBHS fought back well with Logan Hughes finishing off a 70 metre movement that saw forwards and backs inter passing and bamboozling the Hastings defence. Love’s conversion made the score 33-5.

Three more tries to Feleti Sae-To’ufo’ou, Lafo Takaiari Ah Ching and Jayden Taylor and two conceded meant the final score ended up 50-19 in PNBHS favour.

Pleasing about this game was the intensity of the PNBHS performance, which started right from the kick off and lasted until the final whistle, the dominance in the set pieces, with Kodie Albert-Papuni and Tom Hansen reining supreme in the lineouts and the skilful execution by the backs to create space out wide with Toby Hunter, Liam Todd, and Reif Dawson seeing more ball than a Rebel Sport warehouse manager.

A post match comment by the referee saying that he had never seen such aggressive defence by an Under 15 team underlined the determination of the team to not only win, but win this game well.

A good step forward, however a new level will need to be reached next week in order to beat a well drilled and confident Hamilton side.       

View pics of the match    Colts vs Hastings BHS