Dannevirke High School Rugby plays grading games

DHS Under 15 lock Rico Phillips on one of his barging runs against PNBH.

Saturday, June 27 was grading day for Manawatu Secondary School's rugby since the season's start was delayed by the lockdown.

It was the last opportunity in term time for the organisers to assess the teams entered and while it was hardly sufficient to be a reliable guide there was enough to make a start.

No 8 Jayden Phillips drives hard and low through the opposition.

Dannevirke High School has entered three boys' teams in the Under 14, Under 15 and First 15 grades. The Under 15s played at Dannevirke while the other two played in Palmerston North.

The Under 15s had only had three practices and took a while to gel against a Palmerston North Boys' High side, conceding early points but scoring a good try towards the end of the first half to be 12-7 down at the break.

That was soon evened up with another good forward drive which yielded a try and from then on it was a really torrid match. The shackles were broken when a high ball was dropped by Dannevirke and a seven-pointer scored.

This was against the run of play at the time as Dannevirke's forwards were working well. A second try sealed the match 26-12 for PNBH but as a grading game it should indicate both teams belong in the same grade.

Coach Michael Tayles said he was pleased with the team and he looked forward to coaching them further as he knew quite a number from coaching them at South School.

The first 15 travelled to Palmerston North to play another PNBH side and lost its fixture but the game was only 30 minutes and coach Brian Johnson said his team, which has lost half of its last year players, was just starting to combine well when the final whistle blew.

The Under 14s were decisively beaten but that is what grading games are about.