Under 21's on a roll

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 14, Issue 640, 11 June 1996, Page 10

Under 21's on a roll

Ruapehu U21's notched up another impressive win on Saturday, when they played Taihape Pirates at Taihape. Having said that, it was not until the 37th minute and then again half way into the second half that Ruapehu showed their worth. Taihape held Ruapehu at bay for most of the first half with committed attacking play. However, they faiied to capitalise on penalties that were given in their favour. Mario Mareikura, number 10 - first 5/8 for Ruapehu, put points on the board after seven minutes of play with a penalty goal, the score 3-0. Hard work by both number 7 "Nails" and centre Joe Metekingi, unfortunately saw some ball go astray a little at times with inaccurate kicking. Another penalty goal in the 27th minute, kicked again by Mareikura, put another three points on the board, taking the score to 6-0. In the 37th minute a good pass to Kelly Arahaunga number 13, saw him run on well with the ball and his accurate boot of

tap and tick was read well by Craig Pye who went over the line for a well deserved try. The try was unconverted. The score at half time was 1 1-0. The game sea-sawed a lot with Pirates on the attack and several times they came close to scoring, but Ruapehu held on and managed to bring the ball back into their territory 20 minutes into the second half. Mareikura again made sure of his boot and kicked a penalty goal from a knock-on by Pirates, the score then 14-0. Ruapehu had the upper hand with 15 minutes to go and from a well-fed scrum with a good committed plan of attack the ball was fed to the full back Terry Taumata who went over in the corner for a brilliant try -19-0. Another similar move saw Ruapehu captain Mareikura score near the post with Ricki Arahanga converting. The full time score was 26-0. Kerry Windle was player of the day.