A 15-minute Varsity blitzkrieg after halftime proved too much for Te Kawau in a match that was vital for the sides’ top-four hopes.
Varsity won 35-25 at Massey University on Saturday to secure fourth place on the table, opening up an 11-point gap ahead of fifth-place Te Kawau, who needed to win to stay in the hunt.
The match was in the balance in the first spell, with Te Kawau leading 18-10 at halftime. But Varsity flew out of the blocks after the break and ran in three tries to take the game away from the Real Blokes.
Te Kawau, who were without their skipper and No 8 Te Atuarere Albert after a head knock, had the better of the opening exchanges and scored the opening try through fullback Adam Boult, who ran 45m after grabbing a grubber.
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Varsity, who monstered the Te Kawau scrum and won a tighthead on the first one of the day, had a lot of ball in the first half and found space, but were let down by a few mistakes. Their lineout was also strong and they pinched Te Kawau ball.
Boult scored his second try after taking a quick tap in Varsity’s 22 to give them a 15-3 lead. But they lost the momentum when they knocked the ball on from the kickoff and Varsity later scored from a lineout drive.
In the second spell, Logan Henry banged over two penalties for Varsity, then started cutting up Te Kawau with their running game.
Backs like centre Sam Coles, fullback Henry and wing TamaToa Ropati were dangerous.
No 8 Julian Goerke and lock Cody Borlase were among their standouts, strong at lineout time and around the field, while flanker Sam Nelley and props Nick Grogan and Sam Tufuga had good games.
Lock Josh Taula played the first half in his return from a lengthy injury layoff.
Flanker Johnny Galloway was yellow carded just before halftime for tackling a man without the ball.
Te Kawau had a bit more ball in the final quarter and unsuccessfully tried their hand to close the gap at the end.
Their best were Boult, second-five Kahn Fotuali’i, flanker Jeremy David and No 8 Dom Broadhead.
A 13-man Kia Toa pulled off a last-gasp escape to share the points against Feilding Yellows in a 35-all draw at Bill Brown Park.
Kia Toa halfback Jakob Rauhihi-Collis kicked a penalty in referee’s time to secure the draw after a horror final 10 minutes for the double blues.
With the scores locked at 32-all, Yellows took control as Kia Toa’s discipline let them down.
Second-five Tevita Asi was yellow carded for a high tackle on a slipping opponent, minutes before Sam Kane was shown red for his tackle on an upright Andre Hoggard.
Hoggard slotted the penalty leaving less than a minute on the clock. But after a big charge from Taare Ferris, which led to Hoggard being blue carded for concussion after being bunted off, the pressure took its toll and Rauhihi-Collis sealed the draw with a penalty in front of the sticks.
The draw was a fitting result after numerous momentum shifts.
Kia Toa benefitted from strong running from No 8 Trent Reti, who bagged two first-half tries, flanker DJ Taoipu and lock Ofa Tauatevalu.
But Yellows stood up with first-five Hoggard, halfback Griffin Culver and loosie Sam Hunter performing well.
They took a 24-15 lead into the break on the back of a tries to Culver, Carlos Ropoama-Third and brace for Jacob Monaghan.
Yellows extended their lead to 32-20 midway through the second half, before they opened the door for Kia Toa through tries to Taoipu and Malua Mauola to set up the big finish.
For the opening 35 minutes, it seemed Freyberg might make a game of it against competition leaders Old Boys-Marist at the Arena.
But OBM ran away to win 43-0 on the back of four killer tries, two either side of halftime, capitalising on wild offloads from the flighty Freys midfield and the expertise of OBM first-five Aidan Champion.
Both sides were under-manned and it showed, with everyone spilling the ball in the first half hour.
OBM were missing through injury Matene Ruawai, Rhys Pedersen and Keegan Christian-Goss, while Freys were without ace hooker Raymond Tuputupu (NZ under-20s) and props Joe Gavigan (concussion) and Feleti Sae-Ta’ufo’ou (partial shoulder dislocation), who could be out for six weeks.
OBM used the wind well in the first half, especially from the boot of second-five Ben Motamed, who is out of Johnny Leota’s Salford academy in England.
He also spread the ball well, as OBM owned the territory, they had a stronger scrum and had Champion finding vacant space with his telling grubber kicks.
OBM had too much gas on the outsides, including wing Will Treder, who scored twice in a few minutes, once from an intercept and the other through chasing a kick. At 29-0 it was curtains.
Freys were their physical selves, but their passing was rushed in their second scoreless game of the season, with three games left to escape a winless campaign.
Their best were non-stop locks Reuben Davis and Ollie Beech and second-half halfback Alex Metekingi.
College Old Boys had the bye.
The Manawatū Evergreens play Hawke’s Bay Saracens at Rugby Park, Dannevirke at 3pm on Monday.
Scorers:
Varsity 35 (Tim Stone, Logan Henry, Julian Goerke, Sam Coles tries; Henry 2 con, 3 pen, Scott Davidson con) Te Kawau 25 (Adam Boult 2, Shaun Lawton-Sue tries; Kody Edwards 2 con, 2 pen) HT: 10-18.
Kia Toa 35 (Trent Reti 2, Sase Va’a, DJ Taoipu, Malua Mauola tries; Jakob Rauhihi-Collis 2 con, pen, Alex Boblea pen) Feilding 35 (Jacob Monaghan 2, Carlos Ropoama-Third, Brad Carr, Griffin Culver tries; Andre Hoggard con, 2 pen, Ethan Hodgson con) HT: 24-15 Feilding.
OB-Marist 43 (Will Treder 2, Ben Motamed, Max Harris, Bradley Fountain, Hunter Waller, Ollie Brosnahan, tries; Aidan Champion 4 con) Freyberg OB 0 HT: 19-0.
Points: OBM 41, COB 34, Kia Toa 28, Varsity 26, Te Kawau 15, Feilding 10, Freyberg 3.
