Wairarapa College takes historic win

SLICK: Wairarapa College No8 Bruce Kauika-Petersen prepares to take on the Wellington College defence. PHOTOS/SHIRLEYRAVENWOOD

WAIRARAPA College bounced back from big losses in their previous two games to defeat Wellington College 27-24 in their Wellington premier division secondary schools rugby match played at Memorial Park, Masterton, on Saturday.

It was an historic victory for Wairarapa College as it was their first in the top grade and came after a flying start which saw them clearly have the better of the first half.

An excellent line break from Brad Griffith led to the opening try scored by Chester Rothery in the corner and Griffth's superb sideline conversion gave Wairarapa College a 7-0 advantage.

The second Wairarapa College try came just before halftime and was well deserved because they had a clear edge in territory and possession only to be continually thwarted by some stoic Wellington College defence. This time, it was Bruce Kauika-Petersen who made the touchdown and Griffith's conversion had Wairarapa College 14-0 ahead at the break.

The second half started in similar fashion to the first with Wairarapa calling the tune and pressuring Wellington into errors.

Eventually, skipper Cam Ravenwood turned this pressure into a try from a scrum move and then, after a Griffith penalty, advanced the score to a seemingly comfortable 22-0, Wellington finally got their first points on the board with a try.

However, their jubilation was short lived with Wairarapa scoring their fourth try through Croydon Hall virtually from the resumption of play.

The closing stanzas provided some anxious moments for Wairarapa players and supporters when prop Taine Hintz was sinbinned for continual infringement and Wellington applied pressure by running in two quick tries.

But Wairarapa held strong and a memorable 27-24 win was achieved.

Making the result especially rewarding for Wairarapa College coach Chris Senior was that a lot of time had been spent going over the reasons for their losses in their previous two games to the two top teams on the competition ladder, and the study had paid obvious dividends.

"We identified big issues in our broken defence and also our option-taking and it was pleasing to see us do so much better in defence and in building phases of play," Senior said.

Exciting as the win was, however, Senior was also quick to emphasise that it alone would not make for a successful season.

"We need to make sure we back up this performance in the games ahead," he said.

The Wairarapa College squad leave ON Friday for a tournament in Australia.