Raetihi rugby wins all round

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 12, Issue 583, 25 April 1995, Page 12

Raetihi rugby wins all round

Raetihi was well and truly in the winning seat on Saturday 22 April with all grades posting wins from midgets through to the seniors and including the Under 21 ' s win by default. Rain didn't seem to dampen the spirits, in fact it probably spurred things on afi round. The senior game Raetihi versus W aiouru saw Raetihi cottle back in a fired up mood and take the winning driver's seat. In the first half the team played well particularly Darren McDonnell, centre, who made good use of the side step and with good clean ball, drive and support went over for the first try, which he converted. A penalty kick to Raetihi by McDonnell took the score to 10-0 at halftime. Waiouru drove hard in the second-half, gaining some good line-out ball and showed signs of scoring several times in the first 1 0 minutes or so, but Raetihi 's strong defensive play shut Waiouru out every time. Bernard Taputoro, Raetihi's hooker, managed to win two tight heads aird the team capitalised on that feeding the backs, keeping the pressure on the sort of play which saw number five Kenny Brown in the corner for a brilliant try, not converted. Paul Trow had another outstanding game as did captain Brad McCoubrie, Tom Rawiri, Brendon Cavanah and Mathew Lepua. Raetihi fielded two new players, Philip Jackson and Paddy Chambers in the lock

position (half a game each). Nathan Baker tackled well for Waiouru but was concussed when he fell into the knee of the opposition hitting his head as he went down. Raetihi clinched the game with a penalty taking the final score to 18-0. Easter Easter weekend saw mOre of a challenge for Raetihi than the previous weeks' match and their (the team's) somewhat sluggish look showed in the first-half . However, there was some good individual play, in particular Brendon Cavanah at half-back, Mathew Lepua also at halfback, Tenny Taumata and Paul Trow. Tom Rawiri drove hard bringing the ball forward, but support was a little slow at times, with Raetihi winning most of the line-outs but once again failure to capitalise let the team down. It was good to see older, more experieneed players in support and encouragement particularly in the second-half. Utiku Old Boys had the upper hand in the first-half and the speed to capitalise, Gareth Evans at full-back, is visiting from Swansea in Wales and is here for the season. He seems to be proving his worth, being pretty handy with the boot. The final score was Utiku 26, Raetihi 6. Tries to Utiku were: Gareth Evans 1 , Peter Thomas 1, Hepi Kereti 1, 1 conversion and 2 penalties, Chris Karatau 1 penalty. For Raetihi Ngopera Pine kicked 2 penalties.