West Coast Rugby Union - News
Having started the match in the best possible fashion, with a stunning individual try to Welsh fullback Alex Webber, Marist succumbed to the pressure applied by Blaketown and trailed 10-22 with less than1S minutes remaining but strung together enough phases to score two late tries.
Marist’s cause was aided by Blaketown being down to 14 men after halfback Cole Watson was sinbinned for an offside tackle.
Earlier, Blaketown looked unstoppable whenever their forwards recycled the ball quickly and made ground around the fringes of the ruck.
Prop Christian Paulo — coming in as a replacement due to uncertainty about an injury sustained playing league the night before — had a blinder picking up a try and making countless metres with ball in hand.
He made up for the absence of Tyler Stanton who has been the Blaketown water boy due to injury.
On Marist's side, the set pieces kept them in touch with the backs, doing a good job in spreading play wide as often as they could. They also prospered with quick ball in the first half keeping Blaketown on the back foot.
As soon as the second half started Blaketown scored though the forwards working together to charge toward the line and No 8 Tim Kinikini being awarded a try although the ball was lost forward when he dived over.
Marist kicked a penalty soon after, but Blaketown answered with two more tries with Paulo nabbing the first and Mose Tuvalu touching down in similar fashion after Lance McEwen bolted through a small opening in the defence to set up a mck within 10m ofthe Marist line.
However,
Marist were given an opening when Watson was binned
and Emile Langi, a former Blaketown forward, scored
against his old team to bring Marist within reach again
at 22-15 and the Greens gladly accepted their
final opportunity when halfback Jack Douglas ran an
inside lane to collect a pass from Webber who converted.
The next meeting between the teams should be a cracker.
Scorers:
Marist 22 (A Webber, E Langi, J Douglas
tries; M Mudu pen; Webber 2 cons)
Blaketown 22 (T Kinikini, C Paulo,
M Tuvalu tries; N Williamson pen, 2 cons)
Reproduced courtesy of the Greymouth Star
Sth
Westland try fest
By Matt Kersten
of the Greymouth
Star
Kiwi’s burly forwards proved to be the difference in the Hokitika derby on Saturday; the men in blue winning their New Forrest Cup rugby encounter with Wests, 27-5.
South Westland handed a big defeat to Grey Valley in Harihari, racking up 71 unanswered points.
Marist and Blaketown drew 22-22 in their meeting at Arthur Fong Park in Blaketown, the Seagulls leading most of the game before a late Marist try sealed it up.
Kiwi dominated most of the match against Wests, the forwards being the big difference in the two sides. Kiwi player coach Kyle Parker said the side dominated the scrum and the breakdown, giving them the go-forward that led to their four tries. "We did make a lot of mistakes that cost us tries, though.”
He credited Wests for fighting until the final whistle, just before which Scott Foster scored a try.
Wests manager Gordon Davidson said expecting". “lt was very tough up front, the forward packs missing a few guys in key positions. Hopefully we’ll find guys to fill them down the track."
South Westland spread the ball wide to rack up a big score against Grey Valley, with wing Josh Batchelor scoring four of the 11 tries.
Grey Valley coach Lindsay Hughes said the team went down to Harihari with “minimum players” and South Westland dotted dovm three times within the first five minutes.
"They’re a good team." South Westland manager Ray Manera said everything clicked for his side.
“We’ve got a few new guys this year and we’re gradually getting a bit of teamwork going.”
Results:—
Kiwi 22, (M Brown, S McDermott, J Stevens,
K Tainui tries; D Tauwhare conv)
Wests 5 (S Foster try)
South
Westland 71 (J Batchelor 4, R Kennedy J Hill, D
Crouchley , K Nolan, C Deans, T McCarthy, I Nauer tries;
Deans 8 cons)
Grey Valley 0
Marist
22 (A Webber, E Langi, J Douglas tries; M Mudu
pen; Webber 2 cons)
Blaketown 22 (T Kinikini, C Paulo, M Tuvalu
tries; N Williamson pen, 2 cons)
Reproduced courtesy of the Greymouth Star
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