Unbeaten Otumoetai College were expected to beat an injury ravaged Bethlehem College side at home on Saturday but in the end they were lucky to win 15-10.
The division one clash in the Bay of Plenty Polytechnic Secondary Schools competition was competitive from the first whistle and Bethlehem had the better of territory and possession throughout the match. But they will rue several opportunities missed when they had Otumoetai stretched and Cam Gerlack lacked his usual accuracy from the kicking tee.
The match was a classic First XV encounter between two passionate local rivals and the visitors started strongly, camping in the Otumoetai half. Against the run of play though, Otumoetai opened the scoring with their first attacking opportunity through barnstorming No 8 Tukuoroa Ngawhita, who crashed over from a free kick. Keegan Long converted for a 7-0 lead but the rest of the half was dominated by Bethlehem as they made several clean line breaks - with Luke and Thomas Allen showing out - but just lacked accuracy when it was needed close to the try line.
Bethlehem did finally score before the halftime break and it was an excellent try. First-five Chris Johnstone, who was a threat with ball in hand all game, stepped brilliantly off his left foot to get past four defenders, before he found hard working flanker Sam Waddell who scored out wide. Otumoetai looked more composed at the start of the second spell and stretched their lead to 12-5 after a classic blindside move featuring Ngawhita and halfback Ryan Brown was finished off by JT Tahere.
With eight minutes left to play, Bethlehem set up an exciting final few minutes after they finally managed to break through Otumoetai's well drilled defence. No 8 Vinnie Adams dotted down to make it 12-10 but a high tackle minutes later gave Long the chance to regain the five point buffer which Otumoetai held on to as Bethlehem came back at them one last time.
Bethlehem coach Grant McCoid was rightly proud of the effort by his team.
"Some of the individuals played their best game of the season so it is cool to see them growing," McCoid said. "To see us hold on to the ball for so many multiple phases is exciting because then you can play a bit more rugby. We have had a few injuries and had guys playing out of position, but we still played so well.
Otumoetai co-coach Jamie Davis says that was definitely their hardest game of the season and he was not surprised how well Bethlehem played.
"If you look at their results, BC have not been losing badly and have been getting some good wins. This for them was really like a final. "I enjoy this type of game. We need a really hard hit out and I'm really pleased the guys performed when they were under some pressure, especially how we controlled the D line so well."
Otumoetai College 15 (T Ngawhita, JT Tahere tries; Keegan Long con, pen) Bethlehem College 10 (S Waddell, V Adams tries) Halftime 7-5.