1st XV v Napier Boys’ High School - Polson Banner Match Report
The battle for the Polson Banner took place in the sunny climes of Napier, doubling as the final round of the Super 8. The Napier side have been travelling extremely well, losing only once to Hamilton, and we knew winning back the banner was going to be a mighty task.
We suffered from a poor start with the Napier forwards running roughshod over us. In the first five minutes, we saw very little ball and spent most of the half going backwards. This resulted in the opposition scoring a try and putting us under immense pressure. We responded in kind by going to our strength of exploiting space down the edge and created a very good opportunity, only for the bounce of the rugby ball to go against us. This seemed to stir the Napier runners back into action and the rest of the half was a masterclass in power running as wave after wave of sky blue came at us. We were guilty of being far too passive defensively and sat back waiting for them to come at us. This gave the opposition the gain line advantage and we were under the gun. They scored three further tries in the first half and at the break had a fairly significant lead of 26-0.
The discussion at oranges centred around the missed tackle count and the need to show linespeed. We felt we were able to create some opportunities out wide, but needed to recycle the ball quicker and show courage by going wide.
We started the second half extremely well by scoring in the first five minutes ourselves. We were then able to maintain possession and territory, only to have a second try disallowed. The momentum shifted back to Napier and they swept back into our half. We were reduced to 14 men and they scored a further two tries. Once restored to 15, we again showed plenty of fight and scored another two tries through expansive play to win the second half 19-10.
Although we showed plenty of heart and played well in the second half, this game was lost in the first with a passive defensive line and too many missed tackles. Napier are a very good side and they made the most of the leeway we gave them. Final score 36-19.
Points Scorers:
Tries:
Jayden Keelan
Mitch Leach
Trevor Shane Baker
Conversions:
Stewart Cruden x 2
