East Coast and Boys’ High players show talent in abundance

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

RUGBY

They have got to stay in rugby.

The talent in both the Gisborne Boys’ High School under-15s and the East Coast u18s is enormous.

While Boys’ High thoroughly deserved their 14-0 win on Saturday, they paid a high price for victory . . . in bumps and bruises. And that goes for the tryscorers, too — centre Whetu King-Taufa and tighthead prop Chrysler Stevens.

The score at the break was nil-all. Boys’ High fullback Western Poutu converted both second-half tries in a hard-fought game, King-Taufa having scored first.

Loosehead prop Drake Wanoa was the GBHS player of the day for his hard running and tackling, while for East Coast the equally hard-hitting Ngakorau Potiki-Nohotima, at blindside flanker, was Coast head coach Jesse Haenga’s player of the day.

“The boys defended well and I saw a lot of potential; we’ll get better,” Haenga said.

Two other standouts for the Coast were their captain, powerhouse No.8-cum-loosehead prop Porourangi Nepia-Poutu, and towering lock Kyah Hollis.

Hollis’s work-rate, tackling and lineout battle with Boys’ High captain and No.8 Lochi Mead were highlights of the game. Coast right wing Romeo Newey-Schumann posed a major threat with his pace. He tested GBHS on the extremities.

Boys’ High first five-eighth John Horua and Coast fullback Phatts Takarangi were both sin-binned by referee Royce Maynard in the second half but Boys’ High co-coach Wiremu Kaa commended Maynard and David Stevenson, who controlled the first half, for their management of the breakdown and for playing good advantage.

Kaa said: “That was uncompromising rugby. We won that on-field position, earned by hard graft.”