Club rugby: Pirongia Colts take down Morrinsville

Pirongia Colts reserve halfback Max Shaw injected extra energy into the second half against Morrinsville. Photo / Julie Gibson

Pirongia Colts upset fourth-placed Morrinsville, 32-12, with their best team performance of the season, showcasing the true potential of their team.

Pirongia started the game well on their home turf and established their team pattern early.

Nate Tanevesi was strong carrying the ball from the get-go, making multiple charges upfield, gaining metres, and putting his team on the front foot.

Pirongia opened the scoring in the 10th minute after some steady crashes from the forwards had Morrinsville’s defence in disarray, and Finn Mclean was able to scoot 20 metres down the blindside to score in the corner.

Pirongia had the better of possession and territory, but it wasn’t until the 24th minute that they scored again.

A series of attacks saw the ball go wide on the right to Logan Johnston, who carried three defenders over the line with him, extending the lead to 10-0.

Morrinsville scored next against the run of play as a kick was returned down the sideline for a long-range 60m try by Morrinsville’s classy centre.

Pirongia quickly regained control and had the last say of the half.

After a series of attacks created space out wide on the left, hooker Brook Witehira crashed over to give Pirongia a 15-5 halftime lead.

Pirongia expected Morrinsville to come out strong in the second half, which they did, storming onto the attack.

Pirongia held out until the sixth minute when Morrinsville scored a converted try close to the posts, closing the gap to 15-12.

Morrinsville had their tails up and were quickly back on the attack, but Pirongia’s defence was strong and resilient.

With crunching tackles from Blair Bell, Jay Seebeck, Tanevesi, and Manaia Murphy, Pirongia was able to break out and reassert pressure on Morrinsville.

From attacks in the Morrinsville half, a kick through was scooped up by Jason Hill to score out-wide, extending the lead to 20-12.

Charlie Mason had been in rampaging form all day, gaining big metres on the charge.

It was from one of these charges that he smashed through the defence 25 metres out, breaking half a dozen tackles and fending off would-be tacklers at will, crashing over close to the posts.

The resulting conversion put Pirongia up 27-12. Pirongia sealed the victory when Kirwyn Ellis broke down the left-hand flank and scored out-wide, giving the final score line of 32-12.

Player of the day Mason was near unstoppable all day. Captain Seebeck was immense in both defence and attack.

Brad Seager and Regan Tyler also had notable performances.

Halfback Finn Mclean had his best game of the season to date, and replacement Max Shaw kept the attack going when he came on.

Marc Walton dropped attackers with lace-tackle precision all day, while Jason Hill showed the pace and class the team had been missing all season.

Hayden Beare showcased his attacking and defensive skills that the team had been waiting to see return.

Overall, both the forwards and backs contributed to a great team effort.

Next up is an away trip to face last season’s bogey team, Waitete.