North Canterbury News: May 12, 2022

SPORT
North Canterbury News, May 12, 2022
31
Ashley right on song at Loburn
RUGBY
By PETER WILLIAMS
Two of the lower­ranked North
Canterbury sides,Ashley and Ohoka,
both registered their first wins in the
fourth round of the combined Luisetti
Seeds rugby competition, while
Glenmark­Cheviot and Saracens
maintained their momentum with good
wins.
Kaiapoi, though,lost its unbeaten
record, succumbing to Celtic in adour
affair.
AshleyvOxford
Ashley had piled on 32 unanswered
points, and already claimed their bonus
point beforeOxford scored aconverted
trybyarguably theirhardest­worker,
Liam Stevenson, just before half time. It
was an impressive display by an on­song
Ashley outfitwhich had promisedto
deliver aperformance like this for some
time.
It was more of the same in the second
half –Ashley finished with nine tries to
its credit and it was not until the last10
minutes, withthe game welland truly in
the bag thatthe Ashley performance
started to get alittle ragged, andOxford
rallied to score two consolation tries
which gave the scoreline amodicum of
respectability.
All the kudos must go to Ashley. Its
forward pack, withMatt Kippenberger,
Louis James, MattKing and Nic Sim all
turning on top­shelf performances,
dominated allphases of the possession
battle and at times completely
annihilated Oxford at scrumtime,
winning astring of tight­heads.
Half­back Tyler Power no doubt
appreciated getting so much quality
ball,but it was his speedy and accurate
delivery of that possession that really set
alight atalented backline. AllofAshley’s
backs had excellent games, keeping the
errors to aminimum. The shining star
was centre AnthonyTavendale who had
ahand in manyofAshley’s triesand
scored ahat­trick. He sliced the Oxford
defence to shreds, seemingly at will.
With pointsin this matchdoubling for
both the Luisetti Seeds Combined and
the North Canterbury only competitions,
the five points Ashleydeservedly
secured puts it in astrong position in the
North Canterbury competition, but its
probably left its run too late to nail down
aspot in the combined quarter finalson
June 4.
Ashley 56 (Anthony Tavendale (3), Louis
James (2), Luke Gold, Jack Marshall,
Korbyn Gray, Ben Wicksteed, tries;
Marshall, one penalty, two conversions,
Korbyn Gray two conversions) beat
Oxford 19 (Liam Stevenson, Jireh
Vunibaka, Sam Freeman tries, Matt
Roberts 2conversions).
OhokavRakaia
The match at Mandevilledid not reach
any great heights,with both teams
making alot of mistakes. Ohoka would
have been pleasedtonotch up its first
win of the season, however. This time it
didn’t surrender its half­time lead as it
has done more than once this season.
Ohoka could thank its loose forward
trio of Tom Taylor, Sam Powell and, in
particular, Ben Gold for laying the
platform for the team’s success.
Gold was everywhere, making vital
tackles, securing turnover ball and
cover defending tigerishly all day. At
five­eighth Paddy McCallum directed
play with aplomb, and chose the right
time to feed his centres, Scott Allin and
Blain O’Loughlin.
Their probing runs concerned
Rakaia’s defenders as did George
Wiggins, playing hiss 100th gamefor the
Leading from the front ... Ashley’s captain, Louis James, on his way to scoring one of his
two tries.
PHOTO:LISA SIM
club on the wing, celebrating withagood
try.
Ohoka 35 (George Wiggins, Tom
Taylor, George Wedlake, Tom Wedlake,
tries ScottAllin 3penalties and three
conversions) beat Rakaia 18.
Saracens vHornby
While Saracens was first on the board
with an early try to Alex Kennedy,
Hornby hit backstrongly putting
Saracens under pressure by usingits big
forwards to find holes around the rucks.
Hornby managed to hit the front with a
coupleoftries beforeSaracens regrouped
and settled into its work, eventually getting
some quality ball for the backs who found
space and scoredsome good tries.
Fullback, Harry Murray bagged four of
them, aperformance which netted him the
club’s Player of the Day award.Halfback
Oscar Burney was another to impress.
In the forwards, club stalwart, Willy
Kerr turned inhis usual whole­hearted
effort playing his 150th game for this team.
Saracens appeartobethe form side of the
competitionpiling on amammoth265
pointsinfour matches whileconceding
only 41.
Its last three opponents however, have
been the three bottom teamsinthe
section.
It now needstobeat the other unbeaten
side Springston, in an away game next
Saturday, to set itself up for the play­offs.
Saracens 62 (Harry Murray(4), Alex
Kennedy, Oscar Burney, Matt Freeman,
Ricky Allin, SladeDay triesAllin 7
conversions,1 penalty) beat Hornby10.
Rolleston vGlenmark­
Cheviot
Although Rolleston opened the scoring in
just the fourth minute, that proved to be its
only points of the match. Glenmark­
Cheviot proceededto run in 11 tries in the
processof amassing 71 unanswered
points.
Caleb Beck had aparticularlystrong
game at first five, scoring acouple of tries
and havingahandyday with the boot also.
Angus Gibb carried hard all day while as
always, Jacob Vincent had astrong game
in the loose.
Rolleston 7lost to Glenmark­Cheviot 71
(Jordan Gray, Caleb Beck (2),Jacob
Vincent, BlairNorton (2), AngusGibb,
Corrigan Harnett (2) Max Murray, Matt
Holmes tries; Beck 8conversions).
WaihoravHurunui
In amatch played at Tai Tapu on Thursday
night it was immediately apparentthat the
local Waihora sidewas determined to
avengethe previous week’s heavy defeat
to Glenmark­Cheviot. It scored two tries in
the first 10 minutes –but it was the only
tries scoredall match.
This 14­0 lead was never seriously
threatened, althoughHurunui had the
best of the territorial battle for the rest of
the first halfenabling Digby Heard to
narrow the margin with two penaltygoals.
The second half was all about defence
with Waihora’s line speedand tackle
accuracy snuffing out Hurunui’s attempts
to close the gap.
Hurunui playedmuch of the rest of the
game deep in its own half, but its defensive
patternsstood up to the test restricting
Waihora to just two furtherpenalty goals.
Nordy Anderson and Will Jamieson
were standouts in the tight for Hurunui,
while young halfback Luke Hume, in his
debutmatch, directed play efficiently.
Waihora 20beat Hurunui 6(Digby Heard
2penalties).
Woodend vSouthbridge
The unbeaten Southbridgeside was
always in control.
It had already scored threetries before
centre, Ethan Hobbs got Woodend on the
board midwaythrough the first spell. By
half time Southbridge had stretched the
lead to 29­5.
While Southbridge ran in four further
second­half tries, makingitnine in total,
Woodend kept its best to last with hooker
Aaron Karauria, who had astrong game,
and Jayden Stokeseach dotting downin
the last quarter to close the margin up a
little.
Woodend17(EthanHobbs, Aaron
Karauria, Jayden Stokes tries, Aidan
Wakefield 1conversion) lostto
Southbridge55.
Kaiapoi vCeltic
Previously unbeaten, Kaiapoi’s stocks took
amajor hammeringwhen it lost ahome
match to Celtic, 15­10. It led 7­5 at halftime,
courtesy of apenalty try on the hooter from
an attempted pushover try, but couldonly
add asole penalty goal in the second half.
It was alethargic performance by
Kaiapoi. The turning point cameinthe
61st minute when aKaiapoi kick into
Celtic’s territory was gathered and put to
the toe. Celtic’s speedy wingerRaitubi
Vasarakuta won the race to the ball to
score adjacenttothe posts. Codey Grimes,
playing out of position at first five­eighth
handledthe emergency assignment
capably as did Zane Carey, usuallya
flanker,who put up his hand to play at
lock.
Kaiapoi 10 (apenaltytry, TaineJacobs­
Lawson apenalty) lost to Celtic 15.
Section 2ofthe compeittion is
congested. There are no unbeatenteams
and only two points separatethe top five
teams on the points table. Kaiapoi is now
staring at the dauntingtask of beating
three of the othertop 4teams over the next
three weeks, starting withamouthwateringclash
against Glenmark­Cheviot
side on Kaiapoi’s Club day on Saturday.
NORTH CANTERBURYRUGBY
SUB UNION-14 th May 2022
Luisetti SeedsCombinedDiv 1Pool A
Woodend vsAshley, Gladstone Park, 2:45 pm. Methven vs
Oxford, MethvenDomain,2:45 pm.
Luisetti SeedsCombinedDiv 1Pool B
Kaiapoi vs, Glenmark-Cheviot, Kaiapoi Oval, 2.45pm. Hurunui
Bye.
Luisetti SeedsCombined Div 1Pool C
Hornby vsOhoka, Hornby, 2:45:pm. Springston vs Saracens,
Springston, 2.45pm.
Division 2-Ellesmere&North Canterbury
13/05/2022 Hurunui VSaracens, 07:30 PM, Cul1.
14/05/2022 WoodendVAshley,01:00 PM, Wood1.Kaiapoi
GOLDS VGlenmark Cheviot, 01:00 PM, Kai 1.Kaikoura V
Oxford, 02:00PM, Kaik1.AmberleyVOhoka, 02:30PM, Amb
1.
Combined ColtsA
West Melton V Ashley, 01:00 PM, Wmelt 1. Kaiapoi V
Prebbleton, 01:00 PM, Kai 2. Glenmark Cheviot BYE.
Womens
Kaiapoi VCeltic, 01:00 PM, KaiOv.
1st XV RoundRobin
RHS 1stXVVSelwyn Combined 1stXV, 02:45 PM, RHS1.
U18 Combined
RHS 2nd XV VBDI Combined, 01:00 PM, RHS 2. Kaiapoi
GOLDVHurunui, 01:30 PM,Wylie.
U16 Combined
KHS VMCRU: Plains, 12:00 PM, Wylie. Hurunui VOxford,
01:00 PM, Unallocated. RHSVLeeston Combined, 01:00 PM,
RHS 1
Under 13
Hurunui VSaracens, 11:30 AM, Cul 2. Ashley VAmberley,
11:45 AM,LobLr1.Kaiapoi GOLD VOxford, 11:45 AM,KaiOv.
Under 12
Hurunui VSaracens,12:00 PM, Cul 1. Ohoka Black VAshley,
12:00 PM, Mand2.Ohoka RedVWoodend,12:00PM, Mand
3. KaikouraVOxford, 12:15PM, Kaik1. GlenmarkCheviot BYE.
Under 11
Kaiapoi GOLD VAshley, 10:00 AM, Kai3.HurunuiVSaracens
Blue, 10:25 AM, Cul 1. Ohoka Red VWoodend, 10:30 AM,
Mand 3.Saracens Red VOhoka Black, 10:30 AM, Sbk4.
Kaiapoi BLUE VOxford, 11:00 AM,Kai 3. Amberley BYE.
Under 10
KaiapoiGOLDVKaikoura,12:05PM, Kai 3. HurunuiVAshley
Blue, 12:10 PM, Cul 1a. Oxford VAmberley Blue, 12:10 PM,
Ox 2a. Ohoka Black VAmberley Black, 12:10 PM, Mand 3b.
Ohoka RedVWoodend,12:10PM, Mand 3a.
Under 9
Ashley Green VOxford, 10:00 AM, LobLr1a. Kaiapoi GOLD
VAshley Blue, 10:00 AM, Kai 1a. Hurunui VSaracens Blue,
10:00 AM, Cul 2a. Ohoka Red V Woodend, 10:00 AM,
Mandj5b. Saracens Red VOhoka Black, 10:00 AM, SBJnr7.
Glenmark Cheviot BYE
Under 8
Kaikoura Blue VGlenmark Cheviot blue, 11:05 AM, Kaik1b.
Kaikoura Red VGlenmark Cheviot Black, 11:05 AM, Kaik1a.
KaiapoiGOLD VAshley Blue, 11:05 AM, Kai 2c. Ashley Green
VOxford, 11:05 AM,LobLr3a.HurunuiVSaracens Blue,11:05
AM,Cul3a.Ohoka RedVWoodend Black, 11:05 AM, Mandj6a.
Saracens Red VOhoka Black, 11:05 AM, SBJnr6a. Amberley
BYE.
Under 7
SaracensRed VOhokaBlack,10:50AM, Sbk1a. Kaiapoi BLUE
VOxford Red, 10:50AM, Kai 2a. Kaiapoi GOLD VAshley Blue,
10:50 AM, Kai 2b. Ashley Green VOxfordBlack,10:50 AM,Lob
4a.HurunuiBlackVSaracens Blue, 10:50AM, Cul4c. Hurunui
VAmberley,10:50 AM,Cul4a.Ohoka Green VWoodend Black,
10:50 AM, Mandj4a. Ohoka RedVWoodend Green,10:50 AM,
Mandj5a. Glenmark CheviotBYE.
Under 6
Kaiapoi BLUE VWoodend White, 10:00 AM, Kai 2b. Kaiapoi
GOLD VAshley Blue, 10:00 AM, Kai 2a. Hurunui Black V
Saracens Blue, 10:00 AM, Cul3a. Ashley Gold VGlenmark
Cheviot Blue,10:00AM, Lob 4a. Ashley GreenVOxford, 10:00
AM, Lob 4b. Glenmark Cheviot Black VAmberley, 10:00 AM,
Chev2a. Ohoka Green VWoodendBlack, 10:00AM, Mandj4a.
Ashley White VGlenmark Cheviot Gold, 10:00 AM, Lob 5a.
Ohoka RedVWoodend Green,10:00AM, Mandj5a. Saracens
RedVOhoka Black,10:00 AM,SBJnr6a.
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