Round 5 Update

May 7, 2021

Greetings all.

For the 5^th round of the season on Saturday 01 May 2021, New Plymouth Old Boys Rugby Club travelled to Tikorangi to take on Clifton before good crowds with a strong cross-field wind.

A brief outline of the matches played is as follows.

BCD Group NPOB Premier Team
The Premier team enjoyed the benefit of the cross wind at its back in the 1^st half and with a stream of possession was able to pressure Clifton’s line for much of the half. With all the possession Old Boys was able to play most of the rugby in the right areas of the park and with 5 penalties to Daniel Waite, took a 15-0 at half time.

In the 2^nd half play moved up and down the field without either side gaining any real advantage but after 60 minutes and some dominate scrums to Clifton they scored in the corner to trail 15-5. Old Boys then lifted a gear and managed to hold onto the ball for some phases and scored through Codie Rei and Shaan Waite, both converted by Daniel Waite to record a deserved victory 29-5.
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Old Boys best players were Rowan Slater (1 point), Adam Smith (2 points) and Shaan Waite (3 points).

With this result, the Premiers join Coastal and Tukapa at the top the competition table.

Alsco NPOB Division 1
The Division 1 team were looking to bounce back quickly after suffering their first loss in 11 straight games against Coastal last week. Although Clifton had yet to register a win they’d been competitive in every game this season and the team knew they’d have to turn up with the right mind set to get the W.

Old Boys opened the scoring with Caleb Mawson scoring a fortuitous try in the corner off the back of a lineout drive. Clifton used their big forward runners to continually get over the gain line and hit back straight away to level the score. Old Boys scored 2 more tries in the first half to Alex Patterson and super-sub Trevor Garlick but some below average kick-off work allowed Clifton to score quickly after conceding points. Old Boys went in to half time up 15-12 but had to play in to a slight breeze in the 2^nd half.

Old Boys started off the 2^nd half strongly scoring off another lineout drive with James Wilson coming up with the spoils. Old Boys started to take control of the game with a much improved set piece, especially at lineout time where Matt Harold was a colossus winning great ball for the backs to play off. Jacko Carrington ran great lines all day and scored a much deserved try, slicing through a hole from about 20m out. Old Boys followed up the try with a couple of penalties and were up 33-12 with about 10 minutes to play. Clifton scored two consolation tries at the end of the game but Old Boys came out 33-24 victors.

It was a much improved effort from the team and they certainly created a lot of opportunities with some good running rugby. Caleb Mawson in his debut was named player of the game and picked up 3 points. Jamayn Kepa (2 points) had a strong game with some big carries in the midfield and Jacko Carrington deserved his 1 point.

The team now sits in 3rd on the competition ladder although there is not much separating the top 6 sides. The boys are excited to be back at home against Stratford-Eltham this week.

Pepper Construction NPOB Colts
After a tight loss last week, it was good to head out to Clifton in good conditions. There was a decent wind that if used well was helpful which was the case with Tom Morris regular peeling of large chunks of territory in each half.  Again, with a large squad (25 players) trying to get continuity in the game balanced with giving everyone meaningful game time is proving to be a challenge, especially with 8 loose forwards and 4 locks. Old Boys were able to score 2 tries in the 1^st half to Zac Betteridge but missed 2 or 3 other scoring opportunities.

In the 2^nd half Old Boys scored 2 tries, one of which Noah Callaghan ran in from about 40m out. As with last week, Old Boys were lucky that Clifton was bring a unable to bring a good kicking plan to utilise the wind and Old Boys turned in a pleasing defensive effort to deny Clifton attack in the final 6 or 7 minutes. The final score was a win to Old Boys 22-3.

Zac Betteridge is making an early race for tries and points scored with 46 point which includes 5 tries.

Next week, the Colts will take on a very good Stratford-Eltham team with whom they shared last season’s games 1-1.

Junior Club
The Junior Club starts is season on 8^th May.

Sponsors
This Saturday we would like to thank the generous support of our Sponsors and welcome all of the Club Sponsors to join us for some refreshments and a light snack from 1pm. If you are able to attend, could you please RSVP to either Keith at keith@egmontseafoods.co.nz or Owen at owen.mcbride@ecnz.co.nz or for catering purposes.

General
This weekend, 8^tht May, the Senior Teams take on Stratford Eltham at Vogeltown Park. 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
Premier Team
Old Boys had another tough week playing against the joint leaders of the premier 1 competition, Inglewood United Rugby Football Club. Old Boys started exceptionally well and held its own to keep in touch with Inglewood on the score board for the 1^st half. Old Boys defence played exceptionally well with the pairing of Sophie Whiting and Emily Mantelow in the circle and Olivia Bright at wing defence, forcing turnovers and slowing Inglewood’s attack. Old Boys had some brilliant patches with through court play down the attacking end, but at times couldn’t convert the much-needed goals. The final score was 51-31 to Inglewood. Old Boys’ MVP was Sophie Whiting.

Titans
The Titans had a very physical game against Spotswood United where the attack end struggled with their strong defences. The final score was 31-29 to Spotswood United. Huanna Foteddy was awarded MVP with strong goal defence.

Rebelz
The Rebelz team had a tough game against Western Suburbs going down 29-23. Old Boys enjoyed some brilliant work in the defensive circle made Western Suburbs work hard for every ball. Rianne van Dillen was awarded for her big defensive effort.

Stars
The Stars enjoyed another good game against Tysons playing well through court and all working together. The Stars got a good head start in the 1^st quarter to get a great lead. The 2^nd and 3^rd quarters also went to the Stars but were very close. In the final quarter Old Boys pulled away to record a 44-21 victory. Anika MacLeod was awarded the MVP with great shooting and working the circle.

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 available on the Club’s website www.npobrugby.co.nz or via Facebook.

Lighting Fund
As mentioned last week the Rugby Club is running a raffle raising funds for upgrade of the flood lighting at Vogeltown Park. Tickets for the raffle are 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

Just a reminder to contact Peter Morrison on 027 948-8838 to obtain you tickets.

Cheers

Keith and Owen