Ruapehu Under 21's

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

Ruapehu Under 21's

It only took the Ruapehu Under 21 's a few minutes to settle down before they tore into Utiku on their Easter rugby outing. Starting inside their own half, three rucks in a row saw the ball spun neatly along the backline for fullback Windle to score in the corner, converted by Chris Winter. Craig Pye showed plenty of gas and, when tackled, managed to unload to Richard T aura to take the score to 12-0. Utiku then went on the attack and after camping on the Under 2 1' s line for five minutes eventually converted but the Under 21 's were still in front 12-7. For about 20 minutes the only scoring was a penalty to Utiku making the score 12-10 to the Under 21 's.

After half-time the changes made by coach Marty McGrath were causing real strife for Utiku with Pierre Todd and Craig Lye making some great runs up the sideline. A penalty to Winter put the under 21 's ahead 1 5- 1 0 and then a good break by Todd and good backing up had Pye scoring under the post. The conversion gave the Under 2 1 's a good lead of 22-10. Utiku weren't about to throw in the towel though

and fought back well to get a converted try. However, the Under 2 1 's held on well and the final score was 221 7 making it the fourth win in a row for the Under 21's. The Player-of-the-Day was Peter Campbell. Six players from the Under 2 1 ' s have been selected for the combined Rangateiki Northern rep squad. They are: Chris Winter, Robert Grossart, Craig Pye, Richard Taura, Peter Campbell and Paul Whale.