Old Boys at last record first win of season

There was a momentary pause after Old Boys' Cecil Poa touched down to score the match-winning try deep into overtime at Kensington Park on Saturday.
Referee Martin Topp hesitated long enough to check with the touch judge before raising his hand to blow for the try, causing the Old Boys supporters' to erupt noisily with whoops of delight from the sideline.
To a disinterested bystander the level of applause would have been over the top but not to the long suffering Old Boys crew who were celebrating their first win of the season.
Old Boys coach Pat Stevens said the 23-19 win had removed a very large monkey from their back. Stevens attended the match contra to doctor's orders after undergoing a minor operation earlier in the week and was struggling to control his emotions after the final whistle.
"I wouldn't have wanted to have miss this, it's a very big win for us that gets us over the narrow losses we've had," he said
Old Boys captain Matt Harrison was thrilled with the way his side had responded after going behind 19-16 with about three minutes of normal time left.
"The last few weeks we've pushed teams but we've fallen away in the second 40, but this week they gutsed it out and kept attacking their line, showed good ball security and it finally paid off," Harrison said.
The last eight or nine minutes of the match was more like a game of chess than a rugby match.
Old Boys were repeatedly offered a draw by a Marist side, who continually infringed as they defended their line but even when the penalty was right out in front of the posts, Old Boys turned down a certain draw to go for the win.
Marist thought they had done enough for the win after holding out wave after wave of Old Boys' attacks but the referee disagreed.
"We thought it was all over but it went on and on so we were disappointed because I thought we played pretty well - but at the end of the day, rugby can go for 87 minutes and you have to play to the whistle," Marist's Richie Tolich said.
The match started brightly enough for Old Boys with their standout back second five-eighth Troy Gilbert making a blindside break drawing the defence to put fullback Poa into score his first try. Connor Matson added a penalty but it was Marist who dominated the rest of the spell to lead 9-8 at the break through three Jack Walker penalties.
Old Boys were missing Northland prop Karl Haitana and were pushed around in the scrums and dominated in the lineouts. But they made up for it in general play holding up a bigger, more powerful Marist pack with their extra mobility.
Marist continued to look the most likely to score in the second spell. Despite losing Brad Anderson to the sinbin for a high challenge, Dave Palmer scored their first try in the 50th minute after good work by halfback Peter Hugo.
After defending for most of the match Old Boys needed a spark and it was an outstanding try by Gilbert a few minutes later that reignited his team's chances.
Gilbert pushed off his opposite after receiving the ball on the half-way line and then accelerated into the gap to wrongfoot the cover defence and score in the corner.
Old Boys Brendon McLeod then added a penalty midway through the spell to level the scores before Walker slotted what Marist supporters thought would be the winning kick.