Wins for Marist, Stoke, Kahurangi & Central

By Nick Jeffrey [Stuff]

Marist sounded an early season warning shot across the bow of Nelson and Marlborough’s rival rugby clubs with a thumping 66-0 victory over Nelson in the second round of The Car Company Nelson Division One Sub Union competition on Saturday.

Kahurangi made it two wins from as many starts, leaving it late to defeat Wanderers 29-20 while Stoke opened its account for the season with a 37-19 win over Waimea Old Boys.

Meanwhile the Motorworld Marlborough competition kicked into life with Central opening its season the right way, defeating Waitohi 39-11.

It was one-way traffic at Trafalgar Park where Marist scored ten tries, with both Ra Witehira and Jarel Hemehema crossing for three each.

Coach Shawn Begg was impressed with his side’s effort but was keeping grounded, given this was Nelson’s first hit-out for the season.

“We knew with Nelson not playing pre-season or last week that if we put them under pressure early things could go our way. Nelson will be better for it but our boys were excited to get out on the Park on a good day and we scored some impressive tries,” he said.

Tuterangi Williams was a steady stream of line-out ball all day for the winners while Jacob Wetere turned in another strong showing at loosehead and the entire Marist backline impressed.

 “We will take the positives with us but we are already thinking about Kahurangi which will be a real test for us this week,” Begg said.

Meanwhile, at Cooks Reserve, Kahurangi finished over the top of Wanderers with Tristan Griffith stealing a late intercept five minutes from full time and running fifty metres to score and give his side the lead.

Wanderers lead 17-12 at the break before Junior Seuteni crashed over seven minutes after the resumption to give Kahurangi its first lead of the afternoon. Luca Roden’s boot put Wanderers back in front a few minutes later before Griffith’s late heroics and Shaquille Rangi’s conversion and late penalty goal put the game to rest.

Coach Brendon Smith said it was a good battle between two evenly matched sides.

“They came out really physically but we hung in and thought if we did that then we would get opportunities. Giving up two tries to charge-downs didn’t help and our ill-discipline cost us field position but once we tidied that up, like last week, we were able to build good phases,” Smith said.

With nine players unavailable from week one, Smith paid particular credit to the young talent who stepped up for his side.

Young lock forward Hunter Leppien turned in a physical performance while Josh Te Hira and East Timor Faamatuinu also stood out.

Stoke recorded a 37-19 win to outlast Waimea Old-Boys in another evenly-matched contest.

Stoke coach Seb Siataga described it as a scrappy opening half with his team struggling to take opportunities and allowing Waimea Old Boys to stay in the contest.

Lock forward Daniel Dixon and first five-eighth Taine Robinson both played crucial roles for the winners who already have had to rely on their player depth with as many as six significant injuries hitting Stoke over recent weeks.

Central made a successful start to the Marlborough competition with a 39-11 win at Waitohi.

Coach Quentin MacDonald was happy with the win, particularly with his side not playing again until the end of the month.

“Waitohi started well and put us under the pump to go up 6-0. If they’d kicked their third penalty to lead by nine we might have been in trouble but when we were able to find our feet and get some set piece dominance we got the results,” MacDonald said.

Ben Filipo and Nigel Sutherland were a constant threat in the midfield while Tai Pangai tackled strongly all afternoon.

This week the two undefeated sides face off in a rematch of last year’s final with Marist and Kahurangi lining up at Trafalgar Park on Thursday night while Wanderers and Waimea Old Boys do battle under lights at Brightwater at the same time. Stoke and Nelson also square off on Good Friday at Greenmeadows.

Article added: Monday 11 April 2022