Tight results on windy afternoon
On a blustery May afternoon there were some tight results across the grades - which included two particularly significant victories.
In the tightest of results, our Premier Women finished the first round with a 17-17 draw against Poneke. They finish the round fourth and will progress to the Tia Paasi Memorial Trophy round next week.
Our Colts secured a momentous result, beating Old Boys-University for the first time since 2018. Perennial standard bearers in the grade, the student were always going to be a tough opponent and they led 0-6 for much of the game. With the score at 3-6 late in the second half, a forced turnover sparked our attack sending Josh Hunter over for the match winning try - converted in very tough conditions by Zack Holdsworth-Young. Final score, 10-6 to Marist St Pats.
The other significant win of the day was the Internationals beating historic rivals the Poneke 'Ruffnuts' for the first time in 10 years. The Poneke side have competed up a grade in recent years, making the 26-19 win a particularly sweet one. The victory secured the first round title with a week to spare.
Out in Wainuiomata, our Premier 2 Men won their sixth match in a row - beating Wainui by 62-22 (not one of the close results).
The Swindale Shield match, however, was a close one. Playing with a significant wind in the first half, our side failed to capitalise with many unforced errors stymieing promising attacks. It took a try on half time to Isaia Petelo to take the lead at 7-3.
After the home side struck first in the second half, the replacements in the forward pack injected some go forward eventually rumbling over from a lineout maul with about 20 minutes to play and taking the lead back. It wasn't until the 76th minute mark that the victory was secured after prop Dan Leone scored. Final score 22-20, after Wainui snatched another try on full time.
Elsewhere, the Presidents and Under 85s had tough afternoons going down 17-71 and 7-31 respectively.
At the courts, Netball 1 had their first loss of the season going down by 16-32; Netball 2 won by 54-8.
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