Boys' High make winning start to tourney

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

GISBORNE Boys’ High School Colts opened their under 15 Hurricanes tournament with a resounding 36-7 victory over Tawa College in Wellington.

Gisborne took the early lead with three quick unconverted tries, to Paris Gooding, Amanaaki Tonga and Moses Christie.

Gisborne forwards and backs started to dominate their spirited counterparts and were unlucky not to be awarded two tries after being called held up over the line.

However credit must go to the boys for keeping their cool and were rewarded with a great try after three second-phase plays ending with Darius Apanui-Nepe being on the receiving end to score a try next to the post.

Michael Fox converted to give his side a 22-0 lead at halftime.

The second half started with five changes to our forward pack and as a result they struggled to get consistency.

Eventually combinations started to click and Wiremu Curtis scored from a blind side scrum move, converted by Moses Christie.

Not to be denied, Tawa replied with an opportunist converted try.

From the restart, Billy Priestley scored a five pointer, which he also converted.

During the remaining 15 minutes Gisborne Boys’ High dominated but squandered four good scoring opportunities, from a simple draw and pass.

“Unfortunately for the boys, they let themselves down with white line fever,” said coach Isaac Ngatai.

Gisborne play two games today, against St Bernard’s College and Tu Toa school.

There is a round of semifinal matches tomorrow, with finals scheduled to be played on Thursday.