North Canterbury News: July 13, 2023

Percival St, Rangiora
(03) 313-8186
www.rangiora.toyota.co.nz
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in North Canterbury
Teams in tight contest for semi final berths
RUGBY
The contesttofind the last two
semi finalists in the North
Canterbury senior rugby
competition will go downtothe
final whistle this Saturday.
Ashley, Hurunui and Saracens
are still in the contest.
Hurunui kept its hopes alive
last Saturday, edging out
Saracens 14­10, while Ashley
succumbed to competitionleader
Glenmark­Cheviot's forward
power losing7­24.
Ohoka gotthe better of a
resurgent Oxfordunit winning
29­14, and Kaiapoi was too good
for Woodend runningout 45­0
winners.
Points after six of seven rounds:
Glenmark­Cheviot30, Kaiapoi 22,
Hurunui and Ashley 19, Saracens
17, Ohoka 12, Oxford5,Woodend
0.
Saracens vHurunui
After being over run by
Glenmark­Cheviotthe week
before,amore urgent Saracens
side was expected to give
Hurunui atorrid time when
returning homelast Saturday.
This was not to be.
Alethargic first half
performance by Saracensand a
clinical firsthalf by Hurunui, laid
the foundation for a14­10
Hurunui win.
Saracensheld aterritorialand
possession advantage in the
opening quarter, but it failed
convert this into points and a
handy penaltyshot also went
astray.
Surviving an early blitz from
the home side, the Hurunui
forward pack put the squeeze on,
winning at set piecetime and
settingthe tone on defence.
It seriouslyattacked the
Saracens line twice in the second
phase of the half, and was
rewarded with two well­executed
tries.
The first was scoredbycentre
Matt Hickey, and on half time
when an overlap was created,
wingerJono Schwass,with some
deft footwork to beat his opposite
on the outside, finished the move
off.
Saracens regathered in the
secondhalf, scoring triesthrough
replacement prop Michael Day,
and fullback CalebPomare­
Edwards, however both were
unconverted. Pomare­Edwards
try came when Hurunuiwas a
man down due to an illegal
tackle.
Saracenskept Hurunui
scoreless, and was camped on the
Hurunuiline whentime ran out,
in the face of some spirited
defence, when searching for the
winning points.
For Hurunui, Hamish
Cameron,dug as deepasanyone.
He was everywhere, and his
defence was aggressive.
Si Smith showcasedhis
defensive work rate too, bagging
himself acouple of turnovers and
winger Josh Cavanaghfeatured
prominently with ball in hand.
Half back, Takagi Yuta was a
stand out in the Saracens line up.
His long passes and darts
around the breakdown werea
feature of his play.
Josh Maynard led his team well
and very nearly got them over the
line.
Hurunui 14 (JonoSchwass, Matt
Hickey tries;Kyle McKenzie two
conversions)beat Saracens10
(Michael Day, Caleb Pomare­
Edwards tries).
Kaiapoi vWoodend
On aday whenyou could be
excused for tucking it up the
jumper instead of spinning it,
Kaiapoi managed to run in seven
tries to secure a45­0 win over
Woodend at Gladstone Park.
Thesigns were ominousearly
when Kaiapoi, who had the lion’s
share of possession, took aquick
tap and spun it wide for Sid
Costertoscore the first of his two
tries.
Kaiapoi was quickly back on
attackfrom the kick off and was
findingspace with ease.
As it got closetothe line, Coster
found himself in the right place
again,and dived over to score
from the ruck.
The tries kept comingwhen
left wing MattyTuatagaloa made
an incisive break, and turned
everyone inside out, before
delivering the final pass to first
five Taine Jacobs­Lawson to
stroll over untouched.
Theforwards were dominant
throughout the first half,
especially at scrumtime and
when Kaiapoi opted for a 5m
scrum from apenalty, you knew
number 8and captain Jacob
Hurring wasn’t going to let the
ball come out.
The scrum drove Woodend
back over their line and Hurring
was the beneficiary of this.
Thefirst half scoring was
roundedoff when another attack
into Woodend’s 22, led to a
Ladies Day ... Louis James, Ashley's captain, displays his jersey
specially made for Rangiora Showcase Jewellers 2023 Ladies Day with
his mum Belinda James.
PHOTO: PETERWILLIAMS
grubber through and secondfive
Dante Love beating all chasers to
the line.
Jacobs­Lawson added three
conversionsand the score read
31­0 at the half time break.
Thingsdidn’t go as smoothly in
the second half for Kaiapoi and
Woodend stood up defensively
and tried touse the ball when
theyhad it.
Kaiapoi’s defence remained
strong however and didn’t let
them through.
When attacking, regular
handlingand passing errors
meant momentum was hard to
come by.
Kaiapoi hadtowait until
halfway through the half before a
quick tap led to lock Zane Carey
diving over from close range.
Jacobs­Lawson converted and
itwould remain like this till the
last play of the game when
Kaiapoi took aquick tap inside
its 22 andwith time up on the
clock, replacementfullback
Robert Samson sprinted 60m
before putting away replacement
wing Kimeon Readetoscore in
the corner.
LanceTaylorconverted from
the sideline to finish the match.
It was the youngstersthat stood
out for Kaiapoi with Sid Coster
(flanker)and Leo McConchie
(halfback) in the thick of things
and being rewarded withPlayerof­the­Day.
Therewas plenty of endeavour
from both sides, but Kaiapoiwas
more dominant and finished off
plentyofchances.
It will still want to improve on
this performance as it entersa
must win game againstHurunui
in the final round robin game.
Kaiapoi 45 (Sid Coster 2, Taine
Jacobs­Lawson,Jacob Hurring,
Zane Carey, Kimeon Reade,
Dante Love tries;Jacob­Lawson 4
conv, Lance Taylor 1try) beat
Woodend 0.
Ashley vGlenmark­Cheviot
The Ashley Clubare to be
congratulated on their promotion
of the Rangiora Showcase
Jewellers2023 LadiesDay.
Notwithstandingthe cold
showery conditions alarge crowd
turned up to the Loburn Domain
to watch the home team, playing
in specially designed pink and
white jerseys, challenge the inform
Glenmark­Cheviot side for
the Deans Shield.
Within 10 minutes thoughmost
of the jerseys, especiallythose of
the forwardswerecaked in mud,
and Glenmark­Cheviotwere
already givingalessononhow to
play rugby in these difficult
conditions.
Their game plan was simple.
Half­back, Jordy Gray,controlled
the play masterfully, making full
use of the box kick to pin Ashley
inside their own half. Although
they gainedaplethora of
possession,rarely did Glenmark­
Cheviot put theball through
more than one pair of hands.
ThreeofGlenmark­Cheviot’s
four trieswere scored in this
fashion.
The hard­working frontrowers,Nick
Hyde (twice) and
Hayden O’Donnell were the ones
who managedtocrash over the
line to score despite Ashley’s
wholehearted efforts tokeep
them at bay,
Glenmark­Cheviot’s other try,
scoredtowards the end of the
firsthalf,was alittle more
expansive.
Gray gathered up aloose ball
and passedtoMike Keane who
showed goodacceleration and
timed his pass to winger Matt
Holmestoperfection,allowing
Holmestoslide in expertly at the
corner.
By the 55 minute mark
Glenmark­Cheviot had
established a24­0 lead andthe
game was essentially over as a
contest.
Ben Anderson, Harry Allan
and AndrewHull all turned in
big shifts in the visitors’ pack
whileJack Regan and captain
Louis James were among
Ashley’s best.
LukeGold had madeagood fist
of the half­back duties forAshley.
He moved into the custodian’s
role as bench players were
inserted intothe gameand it was
from therethat he gained some
consolation for his team by
scoringaverygood hard­running
try.
Ashley 7(Luke Gold try, Nathan
Emery conversion) lost to
Glemark­Cheviot 24 (Hayden
O’Donnell, Nic Hyde 2, Matt
Holmestries, KyoheiYamasawa
2conversions.)
Continued Page 32
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