CLUB RUGBY: Loosie battle ends in draw between Hikurangi and Marist

Try-scoring doubles to Hikurangi's Maurice Cooper and Marist's Kurt Wilson cancelled each other out as both teams fought their way to an entertaining, but ultimately disappointing, 27-all draw at Kensington Park.
The underlying battle in the Southern Districts premier game was the match-up between both sides' loose forward trios, with Marist's Dan Prior, Cam Eyre and Hayden McCaw up against Joel McKenty, Eric Wihongi and Mike Paniora.
Both sides attacked the ruck ball effectively, causing plenty of turnovers which didn't allow either side to mount pressure for long.
Marist started the game with tries to Hayden McCaw and Kurt Wilson but Hikirangi didn't let them too far out of range with Cooper countering for the visitors for a 13-7 scoreline at half-time.
Tipene Rosendaal added an early second half penalty before Hikurangi took the lead with a try to prop Matt Stainbridge, giving them a 13-17 lead after the successful conversion.
Marist then stepped up and had one of their best periods of the match with halfback Beau Dickens scoring after a period of pressure on the Hikurangi line.
The conversion made it 20-17 and Marist pushed home their advantage with the best try of the match - finished by Wilson - but made by lock Dan Faleafa who spotted an overlap on the left flank and took on the line flicking an offload to Wilson to finish.
Bronson Waaka added the conversion for a 10 point lead but with around 10 minutes to play Wiremu Snowden made the Marist defence look ordinary by scoring in the corner and getting Hikurangi back into the game.
Trailing by five, Rosendaal missed the conversion and then a penalty out in front, leaving Coopers' unconverted second try to tie the game up in the final minute. Cooper found himself facing a forward in the back line and he was too fast for the cover, once he squeezed through the gap, to score in the corner.
Hikurangi player-coach Tim Dow was happy to see his side finish well.
"I don't think anyone's ever really happy with a draw but it could have been a lot worse if we hadn't scored with 30 seconds to go," he said.
The team's new coach, Sam Pinder, arrives from Hong Kong this week to take over the team. "It'll make things easier for the coach to get a strategic view of what's happening - something that is a little hard to do when you're stuck in the front row," Pinder laughed.
Marist skipper Cam Eyre was disappointed that a couple of missed tackles cost them the win.
"I suppose it was a little disappointing that we gave away a lead but on the other hand Hikurangi played well. They started off trying to bring it up the middle and when that didn't work they went to the outside and that worked for them," he said.
Eyre said his young side continues to improve and showed their potential during the match.
"We went off the boil now and then but you've got to expect that with such a young team, I mean our oldest forward is 24 but we're showing up to compete and that's something we haven't always done in the last couple of years."
The result sees a mid-table log jam developing with just three points separating fourth placed Hikurangi from eighth-placed Marist, trailing leaders Hora Hora, Mid Western and the Western Sharks respectively.
Results: Southern Districts Premiers: Mid Northern 27 Old Boys 8, Hora Hora 27 Wellsford 10, Otamatea 5 Western Sharks 83, Kamo 17 Mid Western 41, Marist 27 Hikurangi 27.
Reserves: Mid Northern 33 Old Boys 5, Hora Hora 29 Wellsford 34, Otamatea 12 Western Sharks 69, Kamo 21 Mid Western 11, Marist 15 Hikurangi 36.