Kuranui aim to use their pace

Kuranui College will attempt to run Wellington College off their feet in the grand final of the Wellington secondary schoolboys third division rugby competition, to be played at Rongotai College on Saturday.
It is a tactic which worked well the last time the two teams met, with Kuranui inflicting the first defeat on Wellington College for the season, and coach Aaron Everett says they will be taking the same approach this weekend.
"We like to move the ball around and we won't be doing anything different on Saturday," he said. "We've got the pace in our backs to stretch any defence, and we want to use it."
Everett anticipates Wellington College adopting a more conservative game plan than his side, with their focus being on dominating the forward exchanges and therefore nullifying the attacking talents of the Kuranui backs.
"They (Wellington College) don't take too many risks ? they just play basic rugby and it obviously works for them," he said.
In halfback Michael Hollis, midfielder Tapaga Isaac and wing Michael Wilson, Kuranui have three potential match-winners in their backs, and the shining lights in a pack, which generally copes well in the set pieces, could be lively loosies Thomas Kershaw and Sean O'Connor.
A likely Kuranui team is: Matt Tipoki; Michael Wilson, Cody Crawford, Tapaga Isaac, Raymond Oakly; Chris Ross; Michael Hollis; Thomas Kershaw; Sean O'Connor, Alistair Finlayson, Jordan Sutherland, Peter Richards; Lance Graves, Jonathan Hartnell, Daniel Gilmour. Reserves: Clinton Garrity, Cameron Crawford, Kahn Walker, Matthew Hollis, Chris Renwick, Nathan Iro, Dillon Lewis.
Kick-off at Rongotai will be at noon, and bus transport for Kuranui supporters will be leaving the college at 9am.
Meanwhile, finals day for Wairarapa secondary schools rugby was held last weekend, with Rathkeale College seconds beating Chanel College firsts 22-12 in the open grade decider.
Played in front of a boisterous crowd at Chanel, the match saw Rathkeale withstand some early pressure, before moving out to a 15-5 advantage at halftime.
Chanel came storming back in the second spell, and a fine try saw them close the gap to 12-15. However, it was Rathkeale who scored next, with Jordan Tredray finishing a series of determined attacks with a converted try to give them an unassailable lead.
Outstanding performers for the championship-winning Rathkeale side were forwards Heath Cowen, Josh Farrier, Richard Southey and Richard McCarten, and inside backs James Loe and Herewini Haeata.
The junior grade final was a hard-fought battle between Makoura College and Wairarapa College Blue, with the skill of the Makoura backs being the deciding factor in their 24-17 win.