Rugby: Rep teams
The early bird patrons at the Steamers game at Baypark on Sunday saw a dramatic finish to the Bay of Plenty Development game against North Harbour.
Bay trailed 3-8 at halftime and Development Manager Kevin Lee said a strong effort on defence into the wind in the first half helped keep Bay of Plenty in touch in the second half.
Bay hit the lead through a Dwayne Burrow try and led by six with the clock ticking down. With time up, on the scoreboard, the Bay side could only watch as their opponents crossed for a try, which resulted in huge North Harbour celebrations. The resulting successful conversion gave Harbour an apparent 15-14 victory.
In Kevin Lee's words "we played to the final whistle and were rewarded with victory". Harbour's players thought the game was over but the referee signaled play on. Bay kicked off and were awarded a last gasp penalty attempt, resulting from a North Harbour mistake. Willie Ripia calmly slotted the ball between the uprights to earn his side a dramatic 17-15 victory.
Bay Under-20's finished their Northern Region campaign with a flourish, posting their second successive victory by defeating Northland 35-10. The team from the far north scored first before Chanze Perham scored the Bay's first try. A second Bay try in the first half came from Shaun Strudwick. Ngatai Kingi converted both tries and added a penalty to give the Bay side a 17-10 half time lead.
Mackenzie McGougan crossed in the second half before Perham grabbed his second try to give the Bay a bonus point. Ngatai added two further penalty goals for a comprehensive 35-10 win. Head Coach Kane Parker was extremely happy with his team's back-to-back performances, which completed a very tough representative season. With the additional bonus point the Bay finished a creditable fourth in the Northern Region competition.
There was further good news from the Bay Under-16 A side, who waltzed away from Thames Valley in Paeroa by 72-7. Head coach Brendon Webby described the Bay victory as an excellent example of free flowing fifteen man rugby which resulted in 12 well-constructed tries and the big win was the result of the team sticking to their game plan and playing as a team rather than as individuals.
There was more good news for the Bay Under-16's next day, when competition leaders Waikato were upset by North Harbour. The result meant that Bay of Plenty, Waikato and North Harbour finished equal top of the table, with four wins apiece from five games.
The Bay under-18's finished their Northern Region competition going down to North Harbour 56-17 with the Bay Under-16 Development team beaten 56-3 by Counties Manukau. With a number of the Development boys still eligible for Under-16 rugby next season, the future looks rosy for the Bay age group division.
BOPRU Representative Northern Region Results September 29-30:
Development: BOP 17 (Dwayne Burrows try; Willie Ripia 4 pen) North Harbour 15. HT 3-8.
Under-20: BOP 35 (Chanze Perham 2, Shaun Strudwick, Mackenzie McGougan tries; Ngatai Kingi 3 pen 3 con) Northland 10. HT 17-10.
Under-18: North Harbour 56 BOP 17
Under-16: BOP A 72 Thames Valley 7, Counties Manukau 56 BOP Development 3
Rep rugby: Little Chiefs
The inaugural Chiefs franchise Under-14 and 15 competitions wrapped up with two outstanding finals days at Bedford Park in Matamata and Greerton Park in the Western Bay of Plenty.
Eastern Bay of Plenty Under-15 team had made the championship title decider on the back of some superb performances in the round robin competition. They entered the final with some confidence, but knew that they were in for a torrid battle against Harlequins White, who had won the pool of play on the other side of the draw. While the Bay of Plenty Sub-Union team never gave up the fight they were forced to concede defeat and were beaten 53-12.
A Bay of Plenty derby took centre stage in the Under-15 playoff for fifth place. Eastern and Western Bay of Plenty met in a highly competitive game. In a match that went down to the wire Western Bay squeezed home to victory with a narrow 20-17 win.
In the Under-14 age group both Bay sides also played with real determination before losing. In the playoff for third, Central Bay were beaten by Tritons 31-17 while Eastern Bay of Plenty lost to Corinthians 15-7. The Western Bay side was forced to sit on the sideline after King Country chose to default their final game.
Chiefs Age Group Finals Day Results 29 September 2012
Under -15 Championship Final: Harlequins White 53 Eastern BOP 12
Fifth Place Playoff: Western BOP 20 Central BOP 17
Under-14 Third Place Playoff: Tritons 31 Central BOP 17
Fifth Place Playoff: Corinthians 15 Eastern BOP 7
Seventh Place Playoff: Western BOP won by default
Otumoetai College: News update
Amy Hunter and Holly Boyle are with the NZ Junior Women's Volleyball team competing in the Asian champs in Thailand. Their first match saw an easy win against Kuwait.
Debra Paine, a member of the BOP Girls rugby team, has been working hard towards the Northern Region competition held recently. Up against the bigger unions, the team had a fantastic result reaching the final over Waikato, North Harbour, Northland , Counties and Auckland B. They lost to Auckland in the final but congratulations to Debra on getting to this elite level.
The North Island Ski champs were held in very challenging conditions with a large amount of skiers not able to complete events. Our best performer was Liam Matheson who was placed 13th in the Senior Boys GS.
Our Girls 2nd XI Hockey team won the Gemma Flynn Cup. The girls played another great team game in the final to beat Te Puke 1-0. Libby Hamlyn scored the winning goal with a great set up by Sam Davis. This adds to their runners-up in the Sam Charlton cup from the first round.
The BOP Junior Volleyball Champs got under way with two full days of competition last weekend. Our Junior A Girls didn't drop a set all weekend and progressed into the top six. The 10B and 9A teams both played well and have secured a top 12 position out of the 22 teams competing.
Our Junior A Boys progressed into the top 12,while the 10B and 9A teams are in the development grade of 20 teams and are working towards their seeding s for North Islands Competition in late November.