Marist & Kahurangi open Club rugby season with wins. 

By Nick Jeffrey [Stuff]

Last year’s Stuff Tasman Trophy grand finalists, Marist and Kahurangi opened their respective accounts with contrasting wins on the opening day of the Tasman Senior Club rugby season.

Just two games were contested in the first round of The Car Company Nelson Division One competition after Nelson and Wanderers rescheduled their clash with Wanderers being hit by unavailability due to Covid and other commitments. That game will be played at a later date.

Marist had to rely on a late Sam Briggs penalty goal five minutes from time to defeat Stoke 30-27 at Greenmeadows on Saturday.

In what was a tight encounter throughout, Marist led 19-14 at the break, conceding a late try to Matt Graham-Williams, his second of the opening half, right on halftime leaving coach Shawn Begg to rue missed early opportunities.

When Graham-Williams completed his hat-trick ten minutes after the resumption, Stoke were back in front until Briggs kicked Marist home.

“We were a little bit rusty which is to be expected but it was a good game of footy and it’s always pleasing to get a W first up,” Begg said.

“We left a lot of points out there so there’s plenty for us to work on but Stoke did some good work defensively as well,” he said.

For the winners Apitangi Sami was a powerhouse upfront while Caleb Havili was his normal industrious self for eighty minutes. Wil Thornalley impressed in his first start while Ra Witehira was strong in the midfield, making good decisions with the ball in hand and tackling everything that moved.

Begg also was particularly happy with the impetus his side received from his bench. The depth in talent and trust the coach has in his full squad is a good early sign for Marist.

In the other game on Saturday Kahurangi successfully defended the John Goodman Challenge Trophy, scoring five second half tries to defeat Waimea Old Boys 44-14, after trailing 14-12 at halftime.

Coach Brendon Smith was a much happier man at full time than he was at the main break.

“In that first half we were running around like headless chickens, but with no pre-season games under our belt you could understand that. In the second half we were able to put our energy into our structures and when we stayed patient with the ball we were able to build phases and things started to happen for us,” Smith said.

Kahurangi will be sweating on the availability of two of their key leaders this week after losing captain Manu Williamson-Parkin to a head cut and vice-captain Mike Wells to a hamstring injury early in the game.

In their absence openside flanker Angus Fletcher was outstanding while Louie Chapman and Josh Te Hira also made major contributions. Block-busting Samoan Number-Eight East Timor Faamatuinu also played a key role when replacing Williamson-Parkin in the first half.

A full round of four games are scheduled for this weekend as the Motorworld Marlborough Division 1 also starts with Waitohi and Central facing off at Endeavour Park. Waimea Old-Boys host Stoke, Kahurangi take on Wanderers and Nelson and Marist line up at Trafalgar Park.