June 17, 2021
Greetings all.
For the 4th game of Round 2 on 12th June, the New Plymouth Old Boys Rugby Club Senior Teams played Coastal at Vogeltown Park in fine and warm conditions before an excellent side-line crowd.
A brief outline of the matches played is as follows.
BCD Group NPOB Premier Team
The Premier team took on Coastal looking to turn is fortunes around after a loss the previous weekend. Old Boys got away to a great start and after 20 minutes lead 7-0 following a try to Rowan Slater and conversion to Codey Rei. Codey Rei increased that lead to 16-0 with a further 3 penalties before Coastal struck back with minutes remaining in the 1st half to trim Old Boys lead to 16-7 at the break.
Early in the 2nd half Old Boys extended its lead to 19-7 with another penalty to Codey Rei. From that point on Coastal turned its game around and started to dominate the game through its forwards and scrum to score 3 tries to a penalty to Cody Rei to take a 26-22 victory. Old Boys performance was not helped with injuries to key players and Coastal deserved its victory.
The result sees the Premiers slip to 4th position on the competition ladder and will need to perform well over the coming weeks to maintain its position in the top 4 of the competition and qualify for the post-round robin play.
Old Boys best players were Josh Dowsing (3 points), Rowan Slater (2 points) and Cody Rei (1 point).
Alsco NPOB Division 1
Old Boys Division 1 headed into Round 11 looking to get things back on track with a top of the table clash against arch-rivals Coastal.
Coastal came firing out of the gates, playing a high paced style of footy with some strong carries which caught Old Boys a little bit by surprise, resulting in an early try to Coastal under the sticks. Old Boys then switched into gear, matching Coastal’s pace and intensity on both attack and defence, scoring twice and kicking 2 penalties to take an early lead. Even after conceding a penalty try and a yellow card to Gary Hoffmans, Old Boys went in halftime with a 16-15 lead.
The second half was more of the same, Old Boys finally playing to the plan that their coaching masterminds had drawn up, leading to some brilliant tries out wide to Jarred Wallace and Sean Markham. The result never really looked in doubt with Old Boys avenging their first round lost to Coastal with a 31-27 win.
The entire forward pack (1 point) battled for the entire 80 minutes and ensured the backline operated with quality front foot ball. This allowed Jarred Wallace (2 points) and Caleb Ritai (3 points) to slice and dice the opposition, putting the team in a strong position to cement their semi-final position with a win against Clifton this week.
Pepper Construction NPOB Colts
Kia ora NPOB whanau
Last Saturday the Colts played a Coastal team that had won the Colts Championship in 2020.
Coming into the game Old Boys had trained well and the ongoing talk around attitude meant a very determined Old Boys team lined up for the kick-off. This determination reflected in the way the team played. Old Boys were positive in attack, defended well, and through quality ball retention were able to attack in different channels leading to some well constructed tries.
At halftime, defence was discussed with the aim being (successfully) to ensure that Coastal did not score any points in the second half.
It was a great ‘team’ performance, and the players should be pleased with the way they played. Key for this team is to keep the attitude ‘right’ going into the last three games of the round, especially as they get closer to, possible semi and finals footy.
Half time 35 – 14 to Old Boys.
Final score 61-14 to Old Boys
Tries were scored by Reef Robinson, Noah Callaghan (2), Vatilai Vulumai, Finn Brimlow, Kyah Thompson, Zac Betteridge, Mitchell Profitt, and Regan Gifford.
A special mention of Zac Betteridge and his goal kicking – kicking all but one conversion.
Old Boys player of the day was Finn Brimlow.
Junior Club
A beautiful day Saturday awaited the junior rugby teams, coaches and parents arrived at the ground rugged up but were soon peeling the layers off.
We had a heap of home games so there were plenty of matches to view. The U6 game against Tukapa was an exciting game with both teams going at each other and both teams showing some extreme pace. The U9s game was a close game but NPOB’s all over skill level got them home in the end. Our two U11’s played each other which was also a close contest, but Yaggi’s team managed to hold off a very good U11 white. The U13 Restricted won their game also, they scored in the last play of the game to beat a very good Inglewood team.
Well done to all our teams.
General
This weekend, 19th June, the Senior Teams take on Clifton at Vogeltown Park in their final home game of the round-robin season. Game times are:
· Colts 1.00pm
· Division 1 1.00pm
· Premiers 2.45pm
Netball Club
Premier
A great win by the Premier 1 team on Thursday night.
It was a really tough battle against SERSC right from the first whistle, as Old Boys didn’t get the start that we had hoped for, finding ourselves down in the first 2 minutes by 5 goals.
Old Boys were able to peg back 3 in a row and started to find its flow. The 1st quarter went goal for goal after that they found themselves down by 3 at the end of the 1st quarter. A few positional changes made in the 2nd quarter allowed the team to peg back 1 goal and then 2 goals in the 3rd quarter to be level going into the last quarter.
Old Boys eventually took the lead in the final quarter, however silly errors let Stratford claw their way back and made it hard for Old Boys to maintain the lead. The last 2 minutes of that final quarter, saw the team dig deep and fight for every ball. Old Boys were lucky to get the bounce of the ball in the dying minutes and were able to slot 5 goals in a row to take out the game by 2.
The final score resulted in a win to Old Boys Premiers 48-46. With the win Old Boys moved from last to 3rd on the points table.
Old Boys most valuable player was Ariki Pullen.
Titans
The Titans had a tough competitive battle all the way playing Tukapa Diamonds and the game could have gone either way. The final score saw Tukapa Diamonds win a tight match 37-36.
The Titans most valuable player was Fiona Croot.
Rebelz
The Rebelz played a fast consistent game against Misfits Newbies with everybody playing tirelessly. Both teams were evenly matched with only 1 goal difference in every quarter. The final result saw the scores tied 39-39.
The Rebelz most valuable player was Ariana Kereopa.
Stars
Unfortunately, the Stars ended its game this week with a loss. The Stars had quite a few players missing due to other commitments and had to change things around a bit position wise. The game was very even and could had been a victory for the Stars had they had their usual team positions, but the team did play well.
An unfortunate injury in the 3rd quarter meant the Stars had to play the 4th quarter with only 6 players but the team really pulled it out being down a player to draw the quarter.
The final score was 34-30 to Tukapa.
The Stars most valuable player was Bella Danger.
Social Events
The Rugby Club is planning the following functions over the coming weeks, ie:
| Date | Home Game | Theme |
| 19 June | Clifton | 1960’s Hippy night (Sutty’s Band) |
| 29 June | The Good Home | Netball Bingo |
The Netball Club’s Bingo Night will be held on Tuesday 29th June at The Good Home bar commencing at 7pm. No booking is required but if you are wanting to eat prior to the Bingo we suggest you come earlier. The Netball Girls will be there from 5.30pm. The 1st Bingo ticket is $10 and additional tickets are only $5 each. Further information is available on the Club’s website www.npobrugby.co.nz or via Facebook.
Lighting Fund
The raffle, raising funds for an upgrade of the lighting at Vogeltown Park, was drawn at the White House on 12th June. All 300 tickets were sold, and the raffle realized $30,000. After allocation of prizemoney the Club expects to make approximately $18,000, less incidental costs (printing etc), a great result. The expected final value raised should be known within the next few days.
A huge thanks to Peter Morrison for his efforts in managing what was a successful event.
Celebration
On 12th June the Club welcomed Peter (Boots) Darney, Andy Slater, Razor Sleep as new Club Life Members. Congratulations and thanks to Boots, Andy and Razor for your significant contributions to the Club over many years. It was great also to have Roy Roper, the Club’s oldest surviving All Black, presenting the awards to the new Life Members.
The Club was also pleased to present an award for 50 games for the Premiers to Toby Burkett. Well done to Toby.
Further awards will be made this Saturday 19th June.
Cheers
Keith and Owen
