Otumoetai College defeated Bethlehem College 24-10 in a Bay of Plenty Polytechnic Secondary Schools match played at Bethlehem College on Saturday.
Highly regarded first-five Keegan Long's kicking game was again intelligent and he helped keep Otumoetai in the Bethlehem half.
The first try came after 10 minutes, which involved theOtumoetai midfield using a simple draw and pass to put winger Louis Fleet into space. He used his pace to beat the cover defence to the tryline. Keegan Long converted for a 7-0 lead.
Otumoetai's forward defence was good around the rucks and began to gain some turnovers but Bethlehem were making better use of their set piece possession, so it remained an even game of kick and chase with the odd counterattack.
The second try to Otumoetai came after openside flanker Isaac Mathewman tackled the Bethlehem first-five inside the in-goal before he could kick for touch. Otumoetai were awarded a 5m scrum. Matt Ensor came off the back of the scrum and carried to just short of the tryline. Halfback Ryan Brown made a good decision to quickly pick up the ball and dive over. Long converted and Otumoetai College led 14-0 at half-time.
In the second half, it looked like Otumoetai might run away with it but Bethlehem's players dug in and tackled well, preventing several attacks at the line to keep the game tight. In heavy conditions, both teams struggled to keep control of their possession. Bethlehem scored first points in the second half with a penalty goal, which Long replicated to keep the margin at 14 points. Near the end of the second half, Bethlehem were able to capitalise on a period of sustained pressure and crash over to score a deserved try. The conversion narrowed the gap to 17-10.
Otumoetai responded immediately and with only seconds left in the game took a quick kick off. Bethlehem were not ready and Otumoetai College winger Isaiah Duncanson collected the ball and ran 35m to score. Long's successful conversion ended the game at 24-10.
