Johnny Galloway passes from the scrum. He had a strong game on his return from injury. They foraged voraciously at breakdowns in the second half even when Varsity commanded most of the ball and ground away with their hefty scrum. Varsity s backline had only wing Korie Winters lively on attack and their defence, badly missing injured midfielder Hamish Northcott, was breached too easily by Turbos Stewart Cruden, James Tofa and Andre Taylor to set up two early tries. COB s only failing was average line kicking. COB coach Bryan Matenga said when he heard there had been a falling out at Feilding, where Taylor had been coaching, he invited him back to his old club, as a player.
Otherwise there was nothing between them in a game of kicking misfires and ruck penalties, aside from OBM gobbling more ball in the second half. They just couldn t breach the Te Kawau pickets other than Lee Thompson slotting two penalties to tie the game. OBM butchered an early try with the line open, but in the 33rd minute wing Max Harris broke cleverly to put wing Will Treder over. Te Kawau scored two tries, one after waves of crossfield attacks off a lineout. A Kameli Kuruyabaki intercept try took them to 17-11 against the grain, but OBM s toilers Jay Rolleston, Ben Crozier, Matene Ruawai and prop Anthony Guerin dug in.
The cornerstone of Yellows’ recent dominance, their scrum, gave them an armchair ride in the second half. Feilding started dominating in the tight, with big men Sam Wasley, Hayden Stratford, Sean Rankin and Tietie Tuimauga all hard to stop. FOB-Ōroua were stuck in their end and couldn t come up with much on attack. Wild scored his second try late in the game to seal the win and his kicking kept the Stags pinned in their half. Both teams let scoring opportunities go, with dropped ball in the rain costing them, including Feilding wing Brad Carr, who spilled the ball over the line.
There were also yellow cards for Dane Whale (COB), Ben Stephens (COB) and Chase Jordan (Freyberg) for infringing at the breakdown. Freyberg were up for it in parts and put COB under pressure, with standout No 8 Jekope Kitou making big runs up the middle and getting Freys on the front foot. College held the ball for longer periods, taking advantage of any Freyberg mistake, with first five-eighth Stewart Cruden finding gaps. Their scrum was a weapon and won them a penalty try. Loose forwards Jared Goodson, who was a regular lineout target, and Elyjah Crosswell got stuck into everything. Pacey Freyberg wing Varcon King showed a clean pair of heels again and scored two tries, while midfielder Josh Maoate and hard-working openside flanker Michael Halutuituia had strong games.