RUGBY - Kerikeri HS stun big-city champs with two tries

Kerikeri High School are celebrating a highly successful rugby season which has culminated with the opportunity to represent Northland in the Northern Regional Top Four 1st XV competition.
After winning the Northland Secondary Schools Midweek Competition for the first time, Kerikeri High School had to play off against perennial high-fliers Whangarei Boys' High School for the right to take part in the top-four competition.
Kerikeri High School won this match convincingly with a 21-10 victory, setting up a clash with Auckland 1st XV champions Mt Albert Grammar School.
Faced with a challenge of David-and-Goliath proportions, the boys from Kerikeri High School fronted up and threw everything they had at the boys from the city.
The match was played in front one of the biggest crowds to watch a rugby match in Kerikeri for a long time and the support for the local boys was vocal and enthusiastic.
Mt Albert Grammar proved to be too big and too strong, however, and won an entertaining match 82-14.
Playing the game at pace, and with width, Mt Albert dominated possession and found plenty of space to attack the Kerikeri defences. Consequently they were able to score a number of excellent tries.
Despite this, the Kerikeri High School team never gave up and kept coming back at Mt Albert Grammar. Some small consolation for the local boys was the satisfaction of scoring more points against Mt Albert Grammar than any other side this season.
That in itself was testament to the quality of the Auckland Secondary School championship.
Kerikeri High School breached the tight Mt Albert defence several times and scored two outstanding tries themselves which briefly stunned the visitors.
The first was a solo effort from the very impressive second five-eighth Troy Lobendahn and the second was scored by captain and openside flanker David Hazewinkel following a strong surge off the back of a ruck by Northland under-18 No.8 Matt White. Strong games were also had by prop Jared Meehan who worked tirelessly around the field and never gave up, and fullback Jono Taylor who found himself regularly confronted with numbers of big-city boys bearing down on him.
Despite the scoreline. the Kerikeri High School 1st XV can reflect on a season of unprecedented success, and can rightfully claim to be the top Northland Secondary School Rugby Team in 2007, with a match record of eight wins and one loss.
Mt Albert Grammar now travel to Rotorua as one of the top-four school sides in New Zealand to play in the national 1st XV competition.