Crosby spoke with pride of his team's willingness to give and take hard hits for the cause.
“We worked hard as a group all week and it was great to beat — in HSOB — good opposition,” he said.
“There were many outstanding players today but our gem was OBM player of the day No.8 Thomas Solomon. He put his body on the line for the club and was into everything. That gave us momentum.
“Others to have big games were McDonald's Gisborne Player of the Match tighthead prop Blake Beard, second five-eighth-cum-halfback De-Villa Pirihi-Coutts, centre Hunter Tangira, reserve left-wing Ani Tangira and vice-captain and fullback Scott McKinley.”
HSOB head coach Danny Boyle said: “OBM were desperate to win. We were solid at set-piece — that's been the backbone of our season to date — but we're still developing our attack.”
Boyle's captain, No.8 Tamanui Hill, said: “It was a fast first half and a good game overall. We rallied, but just left our run a little bit late. OBM were hungry today.”
Gutsy OBM halfback Braedyn Grant —in his first season for the Lee Brothers Shield holders — set the tone for the match in chasing, leaping for and claiming the ball from kick-off.
For OBM, that was like a bucketful of cold water being emptied upon them: they then hurled themselves at HSOB.
In the third minute, OBM first-five Jake Holmes made a great wipers kick from midfield 10 metres on his own side of halfway towards the left touch, where the ball was gathered by Sam Middleton on the HSOB 22. McKinley, having chased hard from deep for OBM, met and tackled the young HSOB fullback over the sideline.
Middleton plays just as well at halfback as he does at fullback, and displayed significant commitment and courage on Saturday.
In the fifth minute, OBM struck. Off a tap-kick from a penalty given by referee Isaac Hughes in front of the HSOB posts, two metres from the goal-line, OBM surged twice unsuccessfully before Grant cleared right to hooker Rikki Terekia, who found first-five Jake Holmes for the assist to wing Lorenzo Nepe in the corner. With no conversion, OBM led 5-0.
In the 21st minute, HSOB drew level for 5-5. From a scrum five metres off the left sideline, eight metres from the OBM goal-line, HSOB won their own ball, executing two pick-and-go plays infield before big tighthead prop Myles Muir-Tawa scored 14m to the left of the posts. Two minutes later, Grant chased and won the restart and from a ruck five metres off the left touch just outside the HSOB 22, the left-footed OBM halfback chip-kicked the ball down the sideline. Nepe's wing-partner Michael Fox hared down the blindside, scooped the ball up on the bounce and scored in the corner for 10-5.
In the 30th minute, 10m into HSOB territory centrefield, Grant tapped and ran from a penalty and found Terekia on the fly to his right. Terekia burst past two would-be tacklers and gave a superb flick-pass right to blindside flanker Nicolas Carrizo, who dotted down just to the right of the posts for 15-5, then 17-5 (the halftime score) to OBM with Fox's successful conversion — the only goal kicked by either side on the day. OBM openside flanker Felix Burns was given a yellow card in the 40th minute.
Though Burns, Muir-Tawa (45th minute) and Terekia (77th minute) were all shown yellow cards, the game was played in a good, tough, competitive spirit.
HSOB won the lineout count 15-3, penalty count 14-11 and scrum-count 12-4. They were powerful at the scrum and their flankers Fletcher Scammell and Zane Boyle dominated the lineout.
In the 48th minute, OBM reserve right wing John Moon scored the first try of the second half. Grant, on the right touch 10m on OBM's side of halfway, chipped upfield. Middleton fielded the ball just inside the HSOB 22 but Moon — with startling speed — charged down the line-kick to score for 22-5.
Were it not for Middleton in the 53rd minute, Moon — who ran back over halfway to catch a defensive bomb from HSOB centre Korey Love and then proceeded to beat four men on counter-attack — would have scored again. Moon was deemed to have been held up on the goal-line 15m in from the left corner.
Moments later, from a five-metre scrum in line with the attempted grounding, Solomon came left, succumbed to Scammell's tackle but found Grant, who gave the last pass to Terekia, for OBM's fifth try at 27-5.
OBM lost Grant (left ankle) to injury in the 65th minute.
At this point, HSOB came again. In the 69th minute, reserve halfback Scott Tallott, off a tap-penalty to the right of the posts five metres from the OBM goal-line, gave a great 15m assist to loosehead prop James Jenkins. Tallott played well and that pass set Jenkins to split defenders to close it to 27-10.
In the 72nd minute, Scammell won tap-ball off an opposition lineout throw seven metres out from the left corner. HSOB retained possession for six phases before Muir-Tawa scored 12m in from the left corner, for 27-15. In the 75th minute, Terekia was shown a yellow card and five minutes later, HSOB left-wing TK Reihana scored the ninth and last try of the game.
From a scrum 15m off the left touch, 13m short of halfway, HSOB right wing Will Hocquard made a run down the blindside and looked to put Reihana away to score with a super pass 25m out despite the attentions of McKinley, Moon and Holmes in cover defence.
Reihana beat the first two but grounded the ball while in Holmes's rolling-cradle attempt to save a try on the goal-line. Reihana, who had run hard all day, scored to close it to 27-20.