NPOB vs Coastal Rd 4 Report

May 1, 2021

For the 4th round of the season on Saturday 24th April, New Plymouth Old Boys Rugby Club travelled to Rahotu to take on Coastal before good crowds in fine and warm conditions.

A brief outline of the matches played is as follows.

BCD Group NPOB Premier Team
The Premier team were playing their annual fixture against Coastal for the McBride Shield and started the game with a stream of possession in the 1st 20 minutes keeping Coastal pinned in its half but with little reward. Old Boys took a 3-0 lead early in the half via a penalty to Daniel Waite but missed a couple of other opportunities.  As expected, Coastal struck back during a brief foray into Old Boys territory and scored an intercept try late in the first half to take a 7-3 lead at the break.

The 2nd half was an even affair with play moving up and down the field with no points being scored but with 10 minutes remaining, Old Boys strung together some good phases and scored a good try to Bradley Slater which was converted by Daniel Waite to regain the lead 10-7. Old Boys was able to hold its nerve to record a 10-7 victory.

Old Boys best players were the front row comprising Don Brighouse, Bradley Slater and Toby Burkett who got 1 point, Cody Rei who picked up 2 points and Jordan Roylance with 3 points.

Alsco NPOB Division 1
As usual, the Division 1 match with Coastal was a top of the table clash in which the Old Boys could gauge where they are at for the season. As ex-coach Phil Gard would call it, ‘our test match’.

Things started well and the team looked up for the challenge, hitting the line hard and keeping control of the pill which led to an early try to Cole Paulin under the sticks. An early injury to veteran Sean Markham led to confusion amongst the line out ranks, something Coastal switched on to early and dominated for the rest of the game. Other than the first 5 minutes of the half, Old Boys had little ball which had them down 19-7 at the break.

Just like the first half, Old Boys came out firing at the start of the second and after some scintillating footwork from Mr Taranaki Liam McBride, scored a try in the corner to get things to 19-12. Unfortunately, the pressure Coastal put on Old Boys with their tactical kicking and exceptional lineout led to a final score of 29-12.

Old Boys should be very proud of the defence and ticker shown right until the final whistle. Young prop Tynan Tito (3 points) was outstanding and held what was left of our scrum together, Cole Paulin (2 points) and Willie Lane (1 point) led from the front and debutant Tim Brown cut through the opposition like a young Caleb Ralph. The team boys are looking forward to bouncing back next week with the return of  the formidable duo Jack Carrington (suspension) and Caleb Mawson (injury).

Pepper Construction NPOB Colts
The Colts knew they would be in for a tough match playing against one of last year’s finalists in Coastal. The Coastal team started the match with the wind behind their backs and used the advantage well to lead at half time. Old Boys however constructed 2 good tries to keep themselves in the match and were hard on attack and almost scored a try on fulltime to steal the game but unfortunately went down 16-13.

Old Boys will have learnt a lot from the loss. They defended well but need to work on ball retention and utilising the conditions when playing with the wind. They will be looking forward to a good team effort against Clifton this week before they meet Stratford who are at the top of the table the following week.

At the end of the 4th round the Premiers are in 2nd place on the table and the Division 1 and Colts are in 3rd place in their competitions.

Junior Club
The Junior Club gets underway in on 8^th May.

General
This weekend, 1^st May, the Senior Teams travel to Tikorangi to take on Clifton who will be keen to get their season back on track after a big loss to Tukapa last week. Game times are:

• Colts           1.00pm
• Division 1     1.00pm
• Premiers      2.45pm 

Home games for the remainder of the round-robin season are:

Netball Club
The Premier 1 team had a tough game with a loss to the top of the table Tysons East last Thursday night going down 67-28. There were many positives to come from the game for the team which were worked on for the next match. The whole team gave it their all during this game.

There was no Saturday netball last week for our Satellite teams due to it being school holidays. The Rebelz, Titans and Stars teams play again this Saturday.

The Netball Club would like to invite members of the Rugby Club to its next Bingo Fundraising Night on Tuesday 29th June, 7pm at The Good Home. The kitchen and bar are open, and all are welcome to join the Netball Club for a meal before the fundraiser begins. The cost is $10 for your first book of numbers and any subsequent books are $5 each. It would be great to support the Netball Club in this fundraiser and join in for a night of fun and laughter.

Upcoming Social Events
The social committee for this season, Gabe Lauderdale-Smith, Jayden Ford, William Luff, Reef Robinson, Mat Guthrie and Toby Burkett are working on putting together a series of events for the 2021 season. Tentative dates are:

Updates will be provided in due course.

Lighting Fund
The Rugby Club is about to launch a raffle raising funds for upgrade of the flood lighting at Vogeltown Park. The raffle will be launched on 29th April with tickets at $100 each. The total number of tickets is 300. The raffle will be drawn at the White House on 12th June.

There are number of prizes to be won, ie:

• 1 prize @ $2,500
• 2 prizes @ $1,000 each
• 3 prizes @ $500 each
• 10 prizes @ $250 each
• 20 prizes @ $150 each

Please contact Peter Morrison on 027 948-8838 to obtain you tickets.

Cheers

Keith and Owen