Big turnaround for Bay U18s

A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.

AN incredible turnaround — that’s what the Fulton Hogan Poverty Bay under-18s achieved with a 34-12 win against a quality Thames Valley side at Rugby Park last night.

The Valley, who beat Northland 12-0 in Whangarei and Taranaki 26-24 to open their Hurricanes campaign, copped a backlash from the weekend. The Bay’s sole try-scorer in the 33-5 loss to the Wellington Samoans — right-winger Moses Christie — scored two of the home team’s six tries.

Lock Ofa Tauatevalu scored the Bay’s first try in what was also a great night for front-row reserves. Reserve hooker Seth Lundon and reserve props Maia Fox and Jack Milner all scored second-half tries. First-five Austin Brown converted the tries of Lundon and Fox.

“It was a very good effort,” Hutana said.

“Our boys were very physical with the ball in hand, at the breakdown and in the tackle. We’ve trained hard and shown improvement.”

Bay captain Joe Mason said: “We had the bigger forward pack and while we can improve our ruck defence, our lineout worked well with Ofa jumping at two and Sione (Kinuia) at four. We’re happy — this is a boost for the team.”

Valley coach Mike Voykovich identified hard running as a critical factor in Poverty Bay’s excellent performance — Bay No.8 and 2017 Hurricanes u18 rep Quade Tapsell was to the fore.

The match was played in quarters. The Bay led 10-0 at quartertime, were down 12-10 at halftime, and were back in control, 29-12, at three-quartertime.

Thames Valley scored tries through second five-eighth Hayden Tegg and centre Coel Kerr, first-five Hendrix Beazley converting Tegg’s try.

“We’ve really enjoyed the trip but it was a hard game . . . it was intense out there,” said Kerr, in his second year as captain of the team.

The Valley nominated Christie and Tapsell as Poverty Bay’s most valuable players, while the Bay named Valley prop Ihaka Taka and Beazley as MVPs.

The Valley party thanked the Poverty Bay Rugby Football Union for hosting the side.

They can now expect the same mixture of great hospitality and rugged competition against East Coast u18s at Whakarua Park in Ruatoria on Saturday. With kick-off at 10am, the game will be the curtain-raiser to Ngati Porou East Coast’s Heartland Championship game against West Coast.

The Heartland game has the earlier-than-usual start time of 12 noon.

The Poverty Bay u18s will be away to Wanganui u18s on Saturday. Their game at 12.30pm at Cooks Gardens will be the curtain-raiser to Leaderbrand Poverty Bay’s Heartland game against Wanganui.

The u18s are in the care of a man who knows the opposition and venue intimately. Poverty Bay centurion Hutana (102 games) also played 19 games for Wanganui.