News Archive: August 2009

On the 15th of August a willing Hillcrest team took on 3rd place St. John’s in a good (though muddy) rugby match. It was close in ability but not in the score line - 34-0 to St. John.
St. Johns kicking was not up to scratch as they missed nearly all of their kicks. Despite stalwart defence from the forwards and some great work in the scrums Hillcrest could not hold out from St. John’s fast number 14 winger who scored four of their six tries. The lads showed a determination and commitment which was commendable – 110% effort but with only one sub and a couple of injured players on the field we were on the back foot before we began. Rikki tackled well as usual and Kendra had a great game at Half Back. Good games too from Jonno, who threw himself at everything and Romain who put his all into his last game in NZ.
It proved to be our last game of the season and despite the score was a good one to finish on. We finished bottom of the table but the lads have had a great experience. We could have opted to stay in the B grade competition but the team decided after the grading games that we would take up the challenge of the A Grade and they have done themselves proud. They certainly don’t lack talent or ability and the games have been hard fought. We need to learn the lessons from this year and go into next year with more commitment to training so that we can perform to our potential.
Well done and see you all at Prizegiving!

In this Finals match, which decided 7th & 8th positions, Hillcrest beat Te Awamutu 32 – 10.
Hillcrest were dominant in most facets of the game and won by 5 tries, 2 conversions and 1 penalty goal to 2 unconverted tries to Te Awamutu.
Try scorers were Connor Brodribb (2), Fergus Schumacher (2) and Sean Rudman. Fergus also was successful with 2 conversions and 1 penalty goal.
We finish the season with a 6 win, 6 loss and 1 draw .scenario since we started.
Our last game is a friendly match against Thames. Thames hosted us pre season at Thames and although it was our first game and we were short of players, it was still a close match. The match will be on Saturday August 29th at 10.30am, at Hillcrest.

Mark Eldridge

What was going to be a huge upset, became a 20 all draw against St Johns in the very last minute.
St Johns were 3rd on the competition ladder and Hillcrest was in 8th out of 10 teams. A last minute change saw Hillcrest playing St Johns at home. Playing up hill during the first half, Hillcrest appeared dominant in most facets of the game and was leading 15 – 10 at the break, after scoring twice, kicking a successful conversion and penalty goal.
Hillcrest scored quickly in the 2nd half but the conversion was unsuccessful. Hillcrest were leading 20 -10 for most of the 2nd half and St Johns then scored an unconverted try in the corner, against the run of play.
With time nearly up St Johns scored a try under the post after some poor tackling by Hillcrest. St Johns missed the conversion which meant that the game ended in a draw.
Try scorers were Sonny Rau (2) and Josh Edwards. Sonny also scored a conversion and penalty goal.

This was definitely the best game that Hillcrest has played over the past few weeks. If they played this well throughout the season, they would have finished in a much higher position on the ladder.
We’re now on a 5 win, I draw and a 6 loss scenario since we started, with a finals game next week to end the competition.
Mark Eldridge

Another change to our fixtures saw us heading to Cambridge an hour earlier than anticipated. It was a bright morning and eventually we scrambled 17 players together. We knew that this was going to be a hard match; Cambridge are unbeaten and have hammered everyone they have played. Damage limitation was the plan! The plan came unstuck less than 2 minutes into the game when Cambridge scored their first try, and that set the tone for the next hour. We had phases of good defensive play, matched them some of the time in the scrums and got some good tackles in, but gave them too much space to run through. We went in to half time 52 – 0 down but the lads rallied in the 2nd half, spurred on by the coaches half-time team talk. We managed to hold them more comfortably and to their credit the lads kept their heads high and never gave up. We played better in the second half, more organised and with a real determination. We nailed some good tackles and special mention has to go to Johnny for a tackle we all felt on the sideline! We also made a few attacks but really couldn’t get enough ball out to the backs. Cambridge had strength in depth and as they rotated their squad to bring on fresh legs we struggled with walking wounded! It was a valiant effort in the 2nd half and there were hopeful moments on the sideline when we thought we might just break through to score but disappointingly Cambridge scored 4 tries in the last 5 minutes. Oh, well, there’s always next week.....!
Anne Robertson

Hillcrest lost 0 – 44 against the undefeated team in our division Hamilton Boys High A.

With the loss of 2 key backline players before the match started, made organisation difficult and was disruptive.

Played on a very sunny day, Hillcrest played uphill in the first half and were down 0 – 27 at the end of the half. HBHS A, who although had 3 or 4 players off sick appeared to be a well organised team. Hillcrest never gave up and had territory advantage when the game was called off.
Unfortunately the game had to finish 20 minutes early, because our number 8, Josh Edwards sustained what was first thought as a serious injury and we had to wait for the ambulance to take him off the field. Fortunately Josh’s only injury was nerve damage and he will recover with the aid of physiotherapy. As the 1st 15 was playing not long after our game, it was decided to call the game off early.

Standout players were Sean Rudman, Matt Watkins and Fergus Schumacher.
We’re now on a 5 win 6 loss scenario since we started, with one game left in the competition. After the next game, there will be a finals match, our last to decide where in the competition we finish. The game is against St Johns, at St Johns next Saturday, August 15th at 9.30am.

Mark Eldridge

This was a match that Hillcrest should have won, but lost against Tokoroa 5 – 34. We looked to be the fitter team, only failing score when close to the oppositions try line on many occasions and some poor tackling saw us lose.

Playing downhill in the first half, Hillcrest had most of the possession and spent a large amount of the time in the oppositions 22, but could not score. Even the 2 tries that Tokoroa scored in the first half was against the run of play and because of poor tackling. Hillcrest was the dominant team throughout the first half and was unlucky not to score. Tokoroa were leading 10 – nil at the end of the first half.

The job got harder as Hillcrest played up hill during the 2nd half. Again it was mainly due to poor tackling that saw Tokoroa score another 24 points. Hillcrest scored an unconverted try and missed scoring on other occasions when close to the line.

Hillcrest’s try, which was unconverted was scored by Shaun Nicholson.

Standout players were Matt Watkins, Huw Elias and Reyne Graham.

The next game is against Hamilton Boys High A, at Hillcrest on Saturday August 8th at 9.30am. Boys High A are the top team and have not been beaten this season. If our team play’s to its full potential, I’m sure that we could go close to beating them.

Mark Eldridge

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