After locking up a historic semifinal spot last weekend, Ecolab Te Awamutu Sports kept the train going with a 33-31 win over Hamilton Marist, their first against Marist since 2012, to seal a home semifinal at Albert Park with a week still to play.
Sports can sit back on theirbye week and watch how the placings fall, with Hamilton Marist, Hamilton Old Boys and Ōtorohanga all in play to visit on July 8, while Hautapu have locked up the top spot.
Hooker Sean Ralph led the way with two tries and an outstanding all-round display (19 tackles and 23 cleanouts to go along with 100 per cent accuracy in the lineouts) to take the man of the match honours, while wingers Cody Nordstrom and Stacey Daniel, along with fullback Latrell Smiler Ah-Kiong, also crossed.
Pivot Sam Toa added three conversions, along with replacement Logan Karl, who picked up one.
Like last week, the visitors dictated the first half hour, controlling possession and taking an early 0-7 lead before Ralph charged down a clearing kick, collected and ran 25 metres untouched to answer, the scores tied 7-7.
Marist kept their composure to answer immediately, then again in the 28th minute to take a commanding 7-21 lead with 10 to play in the first half.
Sports answered through their skipper Smiler Ah-Kiong, taking the ball down the short side, standing up his defender to get on the outside and crashing over in the corner. Toa’s conversion from out wide closed the gap to seven points, with Sports trailing 14-21 at the half.
Feeling a sense of deja vu from last week, Sports came out of the break hot, Niah Church-Jones finding midfielder Westyn Cobb on a scathing angle, splitting the defence and drawing the last man to put Daniel over next to the post to tie the game at 21.
The match wavered back and forward over the next spell before hot on attack, quick hands down the short side gave Nordstrom enough room to get outside his man and score in the corner. Toa was unsuccessful from out wide but Sports had their first lead of the match, 26-21.
Marist then showed why they finished top of the table in the first round, building pressure and finding space down the short side themselves, taking the lead back at 28-26 with 20 minutes to play.
More pressure pinned Sports back in their half, and sensing the tense nature of the match, the team elected to take three easy points and extend their lead to five with ten minutes to play.
Sports upped the tempo again, earning territory, and found reward through Ralph, who while seemingly covered, ran straight over his defender and sprinted away again to score under the posts for his second, with Karl’s conversion ultimately being the difference between the two sides in an extremely tense and entertaining game.
Te Awamutu Sports (both premier and development) have a bye this weekend. Preparations are already under way for a big day at Albert Park on July 8.
Te Awamutu Sports winger Cody Nordstrom in action against Hamilton Marist. Photo / Justin Miezenbeek
Ecolab Te Awamutu Sports Premier Development
Ecolab Te Awamutu Sports Development paid the price for a performance that was below their usually very high standards, going down 19-27 to Hamilton Marist at Albert Park, but still locked up a home semifinal berth in the process.
Sports scored three tries through Dillon Martin, Sala Kuresa and Kawa Kiri, while Martin added two conversions.
The visitors were on top from the get-go, rewarded for their endeavours with an early try in the fifth minute to take the early 0-7 lead.
Martin answered back at the 15-minute mark though, drifting outside his defender, blazing through the hole then stepping inside the last man to score from 50 metres out untouched in a brilliant individual try, evening up the score at 7-7.
Marist picked up a late penalty to take a 7-10 lead into the break, where Sports would have been fairly happy to only be down three after a less-than-stellar half.
The second half, though, started in disaster as they let in two tries in the opening five minutes of the second spell, turning the slim three-point deficit into a deep 15-point hole to dig out of.
The usually electric Sports backline struggled for fluency, but as the forwards slowly started to gain ascendency, they sparked into life, making inroads and forcing the Marist defence into pressure defence, with Kuresa cannonballing into the goal line defence to score.
Martin’s conversion closed the gap to eight with 10 minutes to play and gave Sports a real sniff at a comeback.
Marist stomped out any comeback talk by scoring almost immediately after, leaving Sports with too big of a hill to climb, scoring in the 77th minute through Kawa Kiri but running out of time to do any more damage.
The Honda Shop Te Awamutu Sports Under-21s dug themselves a huge first-half hole before putting together a much more competitive second half, falling 24-51 to a slick Hamilton Boys’ High School Colts outfit at Albert Park on Saturday.
Tries to Caleb Wright (2), Munro Elliot-Brooking and Matthew Flannigan ensured a bonus point, while halfback Riley Dixon added two conversions.
Hamilton Boys’ scored early in the first minute to shock Sports, who then found themselves stuck in their quarter.
The speed and width of the students’ play was hard to contain, but their scramble defence held on until the 20th minute when the dam began to burst, with tries following in the 25th and 29th minutes to leave Sports down 0-24 with 10 to play.
Dual try-scorer Caleb Wright in action for Te Awamutu Sports Under 21 against Hamilton Boys' High School. Photo / Justin Miezenbeek
A neatly worked lineout move at the close of the half saw hooker Elliot-Brooking cross untouched, before immediately letting in another score for a 5-29 halftime scoreline.
The second spell started much like the first, with an early HBHS score before a deft midfield move had Flannigan cutting through to score under the posts, but like their first try, their hard work was undone by immediately letting in another.
Sports, though, answered straight back again, with Wright shaking off two defenders to break away for a long-range try, the scoring flurry turning 5-34 into 19-41 in a matter of minutes.
Boys’ High scored again before Wright grabbed his second for a 24-46 scoreline, but the visitors had the last say, scoring on fulltime to cross the 50-point mark.
