Boys’ High target away victory

Gisborne Boys’ High School lock Reuben Whaitiri gets his fingertips on the ball while being lifted in a line-out. GBHS are playing New Plymouth Boys’ High School in the last Super 8 match of the season for these two schools. Both sides have not had a win this season and this match will be their last chance to claim a victory. Picture by Liam Clayton

Oh, for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

Put another way, the Gisborne Boys’ High School first 15 would treasure an away win against New Plymouth BHS.

There being no second 15 match due to injuries to GBHS players, the first 15 clash at the iconic Gully will bring the curtain down on what has been a winless Super 8 campaign for both teams.

This will be the second year in a row that the protagonists have played off for seventh and eighth places. Gisborne have come eighth and accrued only four competition points overall in the past three years.

In 2022, New Plymouth beat Gisborne on Rectory No.1 for the first time in 14 trips since they won 12-6 in 1970. The 29-14 win to the Ray Macdonald-coached NPBHS team here was their only win last season.

GBHS trailed world champions Hamilton 8-7 at halftime in Gisborne on July 22; last weekend away, the score at the break against Tauranga Boys’ College was 10-all.

Duane Hihi’s GBHS side have travelled 564 kilometres in two days on the road and eight hours in a bus.

A side plagued by slow second-half starts has to overcome both that tendency to lapse in concentration, and the travel factor, if they are to claim their first Super 8 win away from home in three years.

Gisborne’s last win against NPBHS – 18-17 in Gisborne on September 12, 2020 – was also their last Super 8 win. Joe Kemp, Gisborne Boys’ High School’s MVP (most valuable player) in the 2022 meeting, will need to be at the top of his game tomorrow. He and his locking partner Reuben Whaitiri have been in great form during the past month.

Their skill at the lineout, and the consistency and quality of the effort from the black-and-reds’ pack are of make-or-break importance. The need to drop ball-carriers with every tackle is the winning and/or losing of this, the last Super 8 game of the year.

Gisborne’s regular tighthead prop, Levi Cameron, comes into the side for Franco Ludwig, and David Gray has replaced Gibson Poi at fullback for what will be the last game in Gisborne Boys’ High School first 15 colours for Kemp, Whaitiri, hooker Noah Torrance-Cribb, co-captain and openside flanker Braith Ingram, first five-eighth Kauri Christie and centre Kaiaio Kerekere-Tangira.

The game between Gisborne Boys’ High School and New Plymouth BHS was to be controlled by Taranaki referees Rohan Gladding, Kyle Sleep (assistant referee 1) and Kevin Payne (AR2).

GBHS 1st 15: Malosi Luafalealo, Noah Torrance-Cribb, Levi Cameron, Joe Kemp, Reuben Whaitiri, Jimmy Moore, Braith Ingram (c), Luke Bidois, Liam Beattie, Kauri Christie, Timuaki Stewart, Puna Hihi (cc), Kaiaio Kerekere-Tangira, Kahurangi Leach-Waihi, David Gray. R: Franco Ludwig, Ratu Nairoroi, Cody Tarei, Bekko Page, Brayden Maxwell, Impala Waipara, Jayden De Thier.

NPBHS 1st 15: Arwin Leatuafi, Shawn Matuku, Jacob Hart, Ethan Potroz, Sean O’Sullivan, Reeve Nelley (c), Riley Mitchell, Joel Parr, Harry Fevre, Jack Wiseman, Jaxon Steele, Viliame Rova, Oliver Cole, Brayden Neilsen, Liam Davis. R: Tualauta Toremana, Ian Wong, Soane Aholelei, Clay Potts, Taioha Mildon, Jacob Carmichael, Taene Nelley.