On a rain-soaked morning, 17 rugby-hungry U15 boys turned up to play Morrinsville.  The second of our matches since qualifying for the A grade competition, and hoping for a better result than last week.  Fortunately, as the whistle blew the rain eased off and the sun came out.  Morrinsville looked the more organised team from the outset, passing well and confident in their set pieces. An early penalty saw them go 3 up.  However, our boys showed character and quickly equalised.  As the game went on they showed why they deserved to be in the A grade competition; some fluid passing, solid tackling, and good recovery play.  Morrinsville dominated the scrums and lineouts and the first try came from a scrum close to the try line.   Once again our boys responded quickly as Tahi powered his way through several defenders to score just before half-time.  In the 2nd half we defended well as Morrinsville piled on the pressure. We conceded a penalty on the 22 which Morrinsville opted to run and they took advantage of open space and scored.  The next 20 minutes saw us continually making good ground only to lose the ball.  However, grit, determination and sheer doggedness kept us battling and in the 80th minute Matt took the ball from Ricky and ran – only one thing on his mind - the try line!  Score levelled, time up, and Matt had the opportunity to convert his own try for a win.  A tall order, and a valiant attempt, but it was not to be.  A great effort all round, lads.
Anne Robertson