Team:
Brodie Toia, Connor Brennan, Jonas Pomare, Sam Pou, Tevita Fa’ukafa, R Kelly Paekau-Rush, Jock Yarndley, Thompson-Reed Karena, Riku Morisaki, Rhys Dickinson, Brian Junior Lima, Logan Catherall, Hunter Johnson, Nikora Maibibi, Reegan Crampton, Tane Te Aho, Aston Finau, Jodeci Savage-Waru, Matthew Letoga, Kaea Hongara, Caleb Muntz, Tyler Riki-Pakewa.
Last weekend saw us host the Northland Vikings in our third game of the round. The weather didn’t disappoint with Waikato putting on superb conditions with the sun shining and the field in perfect condition.
The game started with our Harlequin boy’s gaining possession off our own kick-off and applying pressure with some nice structured rugby. As we expected the Vikings displayed some resolute defence and it was clear from the start this would be a far harder task than the previous week.
Our set piece was extremely strong with No 8 Thompson-Reed Karena stealing opposition ball at will at the front of the line-out. A solid platform at scrum time also put pressure on the Vikings forward pack. This dominance was rewarded when a Viking scrum 10 metres from their line was put to the test resulting in the ball coming out the side to be picked up by flanker R Kelly Paekau-Rush who drove over for the opening try of the match. The try was converted by half back Riku Morisaki.
The arm wrestle continued with some tough defence on both sides. A kick through into the Vikings 22 was followed up by full back Reagan Crampton who applied pressure to the Vikings full back. The full back attempted to clear the ball only to kick it directly into the face of his own player, the ball ricocheting back into the goal line with Regan diving on the loose ball to score the try. Once again the try was converted by half back Riku Morisaki.
The second half was a bruising encounter with both sides throwing everything at each other. Unfortunately the game appeared to lose some structure with constant turn-overs at the break-down and in the contact by both sides restricted any further scoring. Of note, a clearing kick by winger BJ Lima stuck the same Vikings player in the face who had been struck in the first half only to go dead in goal…. “Falconed” twice in one game, what are the odds!
