PNBHS NEWS

PNBHS 2nd XV v Francis Douglas 2nd XV

 
Picture of Sally Wenham
PNBHS 2nd XV v Francis Douglas 2nd XV
by Sally Wenham - Thursday, 6 May 2021, 6:13 PM
 

A fine day greeted us in New Plymouth for our annual exchange with Francis Douglas Memorial College.

We kicked off and immediately managed to regain possession and gain a penalty at the breakdown. We kicked for the corner and William Haywood took a clean lineout at the front. We set a rolling maul and immediately found some ascendency going forward towards the try line. George Oltaches dotted down for the first try of the game with a classic hookers try.

Francis Douglas then went deep from the kick-off and applied pressure. Possession of the ball went back and forward for a while and we found it difficult to get out of our half. However, our defence was resolute and we managed to keep the opposition pointless. We finally managed to get into our own half and a well-worked move saw Toby Gullery into space and scored a nice try from 40 metres out. This followed quickly with a good set of hands from the backs and Tadgh O’Connor popping up in the mid-field from his opposite wing and ghosting into a gap with good speed and scoring a good try. 17-0 to us at half-time.

The half-time talk focussed on putting some more physicality into our tackles and tightening up in the forwards in order to create more opportunities for our back. The second half we continued to control the pace of the game and use the breeze to get down into the Francis Douglas half. Riley Kinloch linked up with the backs and fired a nice wide pass out to Aaron Christensen to dot down in the corner. Javahn Stevenson made a big impact off the bench and barged over the try-line from a pick and go at the back of the ruck. Francis Douglas continued to battle away and managed to score an intercept try to make it 31-7. The game finished with a set piece move and good skills from Palmy seeing Logan Wallace score a good try under the posts. Final score 38-7 to PNBHS.

Overall, it was pleasing to travel away and have a good win whilst playing well. We have a quick turn-around as we are off to Hastings this Saturday to play St Johns Hastings 1st XV. This will be a tough test for us but one we are looking forward to.