Hat-trick to OBM’s Terekia

No stopping Terekia: Waikohu’s Roy Horo does his best to stop OBM captain Rikki Terekia from scoring a try in OBM’s strong win over Waikohu in Te Karaka on Saturday. Terekia scored a hat-trick of tries to continue their unbeaten run, winning 36-22. Picture by Paul Rickard

A contender is emerging.

Enterprise Cars OBM stretched their winning streak to three in the Poverty Bay premier club rugby competition, beating GT Shearing Waikohu 36-22 at Te Karaka on Saturday.

OBM captain and No.8 Riki Terekia scored a hat-trick and winger Josaia Tikicidre nabbed two tries in a well-contested match.

OBM coach Dillon Dolman-Tuhou said his team stood up to the task against a formidable Waikohu side.

“It was a good win and the boys were definitely happy,” he said.

“I thought keeping our structure worked well for us, and our fitness lasted to the end.”

Waikohu struggled to gain traction and coach Tane McGuire was blunt in his assessment.

“I’m not going to lie, we played terribly and the boys know it. It just wasn’t our day and injuries don’t help.”

Waikohu put the first points on the board early with winger KC Wilson getting over the line.

OBM quickly replied. A long skip pass from five first Te Aho Morice to fullback Moses Christie who sent the ball on to a hard-running Tikicidre, who weaved his way through traffic to score.

Tikicidre went in again after centre Mike Fox put Christie into a gap and he turned on the afterburners. Wilson and halfback Hamuera Moana brought him down but the ball found its way to Tikicidre and he finished off to put his side 10-5 in front.

Terekia’s first try came from a pick and go from the base of a scrum 20 metres out from the tryline.

Christie knocked over the conversion to give OBM a 17-5 halftime lead

Waikohu came out charging in the second half and put OBM on the back-pedal The home side drove forward from a maul deep inside OBM territory, flanker Geoff Pari secured the ball on the deck and after inching towards the line, Moana powered through for a try.

OBM struck back with Terekia in the right place at the right time to pick up an offload to crash over the line, and Christie’s conversion increased their lead to 24-10.

Waikohu were reduced to 14 men when prop Tristan Morten was shown a yellow card for what was apparently backchat.

OBM capitalised, with Terekia scoring from a scrum close to the line for 29-10.

A Waikohu error saw the ball find its way to Christie and he dotted down and Fox converted for a 36-10 scoreline.

Waikohu were well down but not out.

Morten powered his way over from a quick penalty tap and Wilson got his second try in the closing minutes after replacement winger Solomoni Rasari was yellow-carded by referee Damien MacPherson on the back of a flurry of OBM penalties.

First five Jacob Leaf sent the conversion over to end the game.

OBM’s Most Valuable Player honours went to blindside flanker Blake Beard while second five Adrian Wyrill was Waikohu’s MVP.

WAIKOHU 22 (KC Wilson 2, Hamuera Moana, Tristen Morten tries; Jacob Leaf  con).

OBM 36 (Riki Terekia 3, Josaia Tikicidre 2, Moses Christie tries; Christie 2 con, Michael Fox con).