COB, through their offloading, piled on five more tries to be 36-0 up and a cricket score beckoned in the second spell. One try was a beauty from a restart when Andre Taylor ran from his own line, Johnny Galloway crosskicked and Andrew McDougall scored 100 metres upfield. Instead, Freyberg won the second half 19-5 after they reconfigured their backline and rumbled on the oldest club player in Manawatū, 42-year-old lock Karl Stewart. COB began conceding penalties and injuries hit badly including serious ones to lock Jared Goodson (ribs) and wing Awatere Kiwara (knee).
WARWICK SMITH/Stuff
College Old Boys first five-eighth Stewart Cruden, right, tries to push off Freyberg fullback Beau Hourigan.
David Unwin/Stuff
College Old Boys hooker Cory Purton, centre, goes up the guts against Te Kawau at the Arena on Thursday night.
RUGBY: When Jubilee Cup winners Feilding soared to 17-0 as if on a training gallop, Varsity coach Scott Lewis might have sent out a mayday call at Johnston Park on Saturday. But after 80 minutes it ended only 27-20 to the Jubilee Cup champions Yellows who also regained the Stuart Freebairn Cup after the students had dominated for long periods even without 12 on the injured list including eight starting players. So come the heart of the second round, if the Varsity wounded can be repaired and they can unearth some attacking flair in the backs, they could re-emerge as threats.
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.