North Canterbury News: August 03, 2023

SPORT
The North Canterbury News, August 3,2023
Kaiapoi’s25year wait to win afinal is over
RUGBY
By PETER WILLIAMS
Division 2
Twenty­fiveyearsisalongtime.
But, almost unbelievably,aquarter of a
century has passedsince 1998whenthe
Kaiapoi ‘‘Golds’’lastwon the Division2
grade after having amortgageonthe
trophythroughout the early and mid­
1990’s.
Itsgrand final opponents, Ashley,had
caused amajorsurprise by upsetting
perennial winners Kaikoura in cold wet
conditionsatthe semi­finalstage.
Perhaps Ashley hadplayedits final last
week,asKaiapoi revelled in the perfect
conditionsonoffer at KaiapoiOval.
It madeits beststart of the season ­
wingerKeesTiwekascored in thefirst 10
minutes­andKaiapoi maintained the
momentumfor the majority of the match.
Ledably by EthanAshcroft,Logan
Allison, ChrisSmithand Dene Steere,
Kaiapoi was too strongall over the park.
It played an expansive game plan, and by
halftimehad established amatchwinning
leadof25­8.
With MattKing’s experience lifting the
side,Ashley improvedasthe game went
on.
Kahrn Schroeder was always athreat
with hisstrong runninggamewhile
Rongotangiawa Mellon made an
immediate impact offthe bench. Ashley
certainlyhad thebetter of thefinal
quarter, but it wasacaseoftoo littletoo
late andKaiapoiheld on for the victory.
Kaiapoi 29 (Kees Tiweka, Corey
McQuillan, Nacanieli Namata,Jacob
Bryan,tries;Ethan Ashcroft, 1penalty, 3
conversions)beat Ashley 22 (Savaan
Roberts, CannanElvines, Rongotangiawa
Mellontries;Elvines1penalty, 2
conversions).
Division 2Reserve
Oxford came out on top after aclose
tusslewithHurunui.One particularly
memorablemomentwas when an Oxford
benchplayer, Cody Elvy, scampered
across the field late in the match, to cut
down aHurunui player with avery
important tackle.
Flying ... Kaiapoi’s Division 2team James Stevenson makes aswift break which lead to
atry as Ashley team members fall behind him during their final.
PHOTO: JOHN COSGROVE
Oxford 22 (William Barham2,Tasman
Scott, tries.Toni Baker­Joass 1penalty,2
conversions) beat Hurunui 14.
Colts
Ashley has been clearly the bestperformed
NorthCanterburyteaminthis
grade throughoutthe season,and its
frankedthat form with aconvincing win
overOhoka. Notthatitwas allone­way
traffic.
The firsthalfwas tight withOhoka
havingthe better of the battle for territory
and possession.Bothteams scored one
convertedtry to go to thebreak all tied up
at 7­7.
In the second halfAshleyasserted its
dominanceand started to run in some
very good tries.
CalebHazeldine,Blake Tull and Nick
Dobson stood out forthe victorsinthe
backs, whileupfront, TobyWilson, Sam
Reganand big Harry Arps carried theball
hard all day.
Ashley 33 (BlakeTull 2, Ra Eruera, Sam
Regan, NeoGoodman, tries; Nick
Dobson, 4conversions)beat Ohoka 7
(Taylor Ellis, try, Carter Trillo
conversion).
Women’sTens
TheOxfordand Kaiapoi girls turned on a
breathtaking performanceinamatch that
could havegoneeither way.
Unusuallyfor women’s rugby,both
teams openedthe scoring by kickinga
penalty goal.
The mostinfluentialplayer on thefield
was Oxford’sPaigeHunter whoscored
bothOxford’s tries.
One of them wasasolo effort in which
she ranhalf thelength of thefield to score
under thecrossbar.
The subsequent conversion was an easy
one and in the end was theonly
difference on thescoreboard.
Hunter’s effortinscoring herteam’s
two tries wasmatched by Kaiapoi’s
second­five ConnieTaylorwho also had
an impressivematch.
Oxford 15 (PaigeHunter 2tries, Kelly
Rotch 1penalty, 1conversion)beat
Kaiapoi 13 (Connie Taylor 2tries; Jessica
Clark 1penalty).
Under 18
The Under 18 Finalbetween Oxfordand
Rangiora High School 2ndXVwas a
closely fought affair. Bothteams looked to
Wrestling their way to medals
TheRangioraWrestling Clubteam
came home with nine gold medals
fromthe 2023SouthIsland
championshipsinMosgiel.
Coached by Stephen Hill and
Dean Smith, theathletes all
performed with distinction, with
FergusJenkins coming away with
theMostScientificSenior wrestler
in thecompetition.
Seth andRudolf Britswereboth
havingtheir firstever competition,
andcame awaywith agoldmedal
each,and showed tremendous
potential forthe future.
Kruize Pelesa andRikki Sweete,
whoboth gainedsilver,willbepart
of theNew ZealandTeam
competing at the Oceania
ChampionshipsinCanberra,
Australia in August.
Theclub did not haveahigh
numbers entered as it recovers from
aloss in membershipdue to Covid­
19.
It is building depth, butsome of
thenewer members arenot quite
readyfor competition, aclub
spokespersonsays.
Butit’s hopedthey willbeready
forthe Canterbury Championships
to be heldatMainPower Stadium on
Sunday, September 3, he says.
This is thefinallocalcompetition
beforethe clubtravelstoMt
Maunganui forthe National
Performing with distinction ... The successful Rangiora Wrestling team.
Championships in October.
Resultswere:
Seniors: Gold: Sam Harrison, 74 Kg;
Matthew Oxenham, 86kg;Oxenham,
92kg;Fergus Jenkins, 97kg;Jacod
Smith,125kg.
Silver:RikkiSweete,92kg; Hayden
Smith,97kg.
Matthew Stackhouse, 97kg, fourth.
PHOTO: SUPPLIED
Under 17
Gold: SethSmith, 80kg. Silver:
Kruize Pelesa,60kg.
Under 13
Gold: Rudolf Brits, 38kg, SethBrits
44kg.
Brooklyn Wiley, fifth.
Under 10: Gold: Te Rakai Smith
28kg.
31
play enterprising rugby. It wasnot until
late in thematchthatOxford managed to
getontop.
Amongthe players to impressfor the
schoolteam wereCampbell Heasleyand
Rzaiah Fleming, butitwas theOxford
mid­fieldback, EarlCacho, whostamped
the biggest impression on thematch.
He scoredfour tries andwas amassive
contributortoafine all round teameffort.
Oxford 29 (Earl Cacho 4, Austen Pedler,
tries;Cacho and SchalkRensburg 1
conversion each) beat RangioraHigh
School 2nd XV 19 (MitchellSmith,
CampbellHeasley, RzaiahFleming tries;
BraydenMcLeod 2conversions).
Under 16
This wasanotherclosely­contested final
with Hurunuieventuallyemerging with a
threetry to two victory overKaiapoi.
Kaiapoibegan well. EzekielMcCoulach
showed his skillswithavery strong carry
and the forwards drove overthe ballwith
purposeatthe breakdown.
Hurunui matched Kaiapoi’s
physicality.
The defence of both teams wasvery
strong.Hurunui’scaptain, RhysLewis led
fromthe front withahat­trick of tries.But
in theend it was the team’s patiencethat
won the day againstagallantKaiapoi
outfit.
Hurunui 19 (RhysLewis3tries;Kyle
Searle 2conversions)beat Kaiapoi 12
(Jack Parker, FraserCooketries).
Under 14.5
Thisfinalwas an excellentmatchthatset
the tone for agreat day’s rugby.
The Gold teamplayed with alot of heart
but the Green team foughtright to theend
and eventually prevailed 24­22 in the
closest of finishes.
Bothteams scored fourtries but the
Green team managed onemore
successful conversion.
It wasafine display of passion, grit and
determination frombothsides.
The referee of thismatch,Bevan
Egerton, showedhehas agood feel for the
game andhis contribution to the freeflowingspectacle
was considerable.
RHS Green 24 (Michael Wightman, Blake
Cooper, Hunter Kerr,Billy Eslertries;
Leith Foster 2conv) beat RHS Gold 22
(Luke Newland 2tries,1conversion,
LachlanFoster, RobertFox tries).
SPORTS RESULTS
Amberley Bridge Club
Thursdayafternoon 27 July 2023and final
results for two weekchange partner
competition:
Thursday, July 27: Nancy Hassell &Jan Roose
1, Nola McKissock &Hugh Bradbury 2, Nell
McKellow &Douschka Saunders3,Helen
Phillips & MaryBain 4, KayeLainchbury &
Helen Thornburgh, Diane Watson & Faye
Priest equal 5, Diana Faulkner&Irene Carson
7, Carole Smith &Adrienne Paine, Lerey
Atkinson&Mary Warren equal 8.
Average scoresover two weeks: Nancy Hassall
&Jan Roose 1, Faye Priest &Diane Watson 2,
Nola McKissock & HughBradbury 3, Mary
Warren &Lerey Atkinson 4, Irene Carson &
DianaFaulkner 5, Mary Bain&Helen Phillips
6, Carole Smith &AdriennePaine 7, Kaye
Lainchbury &Helen Thornburgh 8.
Amberley Golf Club
July 29: GSmith +5, W Van Zuylen +4, HLang
+3, NRhynd +1, MBatchelor +1, MNeale 0,
SDalkie –1, BGill –1, KPery –1, SHartley –1,
SMarsh –1, RHack –1.
Mid Week Men: GWilliams 39, PWylie 38, B
O’Regan 38, Burrows 36, RHornblow 36, D
Flewellen 36.
Amberley Smallbore Rifle Club
MQuigley 100.9, DQuigley 100.6,KBrown99.7,
KQuigley98.7, GHeaven 96.4, MParker 95.3,
PWisheart 95.2, W Parker94.3, O Bourne 90.1,
MBourne88.3, ARoxburgh87.0, ARoxburgh
Jnr 85.3, EPatchett 77.0, J Black 69.0.