HSOB hopes hang by thread

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

Defending Lee Bros Shield champions High School Old Boys’ hopes of making it four titles in a row hang by a thread.

Waikohu and OBM have five games to go before the top-four semifinals; the rest have four.

Earthwork Solutions HSOB, who have the bye this weekend, are fifth on 15 points — four behind Enterprise Cars OBM, who play Charteris Choppers Athletic on Saturday.

An OBM win, coupled with a bonus point, would put pressure on HSOB to win their remaining games — against OBM, YMP (second on the table on 30 points), competition leaders GT Shearing Waikohu (on 35pts) and Athletic (on 5pts).

It would also set the scene for a crucial match between HSOB and OBM.

“It’s getting close to crunch time for us,” HSOB manager and sometime lock Jonathan Poole said.

“We’re all well aware of the situation that we find ourselves in after a disappointing first round.

“If OBM win this weekend, we have to beat them. It’ll be like our cup final.

“And even then we still need to win our other games and might need other results to go our way.

“We were all extremely disappointed after losing to Ngatapa before the break for the Bay-versus-Coast game.

“We got ourselves in a position to win but didn’t capitalise.

We’ve put that game behind us and the two weeks off has given players time to get over injuries.

“Russell Burns (hooker) probably came back too soon from a rib injury but he’s such a good club man he wanted to help the boys out against Ngatapa.”

Despite being in a precarious situation over the retention of their title and possibly closing in on the Old Boys and OBM five-in-a-row success record, Poole said the players were “realistic but upbeat”.

“Our first goal is to make the semifinals and we — the coaches, management and players — believe we can do it.

“But as we all know, it’s all about taking our chances and winning from here on in.

“It’s also about getting a winning momentum. Once we do that, the little things that have been going wrong often come right.”

Good news for HSOB supporters was the form of their Bay representative players — captain and hooker Tamanui Hill, winger Andrew Tauatevalu, openside flanker Stefan Destounis and prop Jody Tuhaka — in the Bay’s 58-18 win.

All were outstanding and, more importantly, came though the game unscathed.