From there, Rotorua took their opportunities, with tries to left-wing Manu Akauola and Tawhara-Sorenson and a double to fullback Selestino Ravutaumada.
First five Cassius Misa kicked four conversions and a penalty.
Gisborne coach Mark Jefferson said: “again we started slowly, though we had guys who stuck their hand up for us.
“Hooker Billy Priestley was industrious up front and Quinn Collard — who played for Rotorua last year — had an excellent game against his old school.”
Among the positives for Gisborne were two tightheads in the second half in an admirable forward pack effort against a much bigger pack.
“We dominated the scrums and our line speed on defence was good,” said captain and openside flanker Dylan Hall. “But we’ll be working this week on making our first-up tackles.”
Despite the scoreline, Rotorua head coach and former Ngati Porou East Coast player-coach Ngarimu Simpkins said Gisborne were a handy and courageous side who starved them of the ball for long periods of time.
“The pleasing thing for us was that when we did get into their 22, we came away with points.”
Second 15 struggles
Gisborne’s second 15 pushed Palmerston North and Napier hard in their first two S8 games but struck a rampant Rotorua outfit who posted 10 tries in a 60-12 win after leading 19-5 at the break.
For the Blake Beard-captained Gisborne, lock Setefano Tolu scored a first-half try and first-five Ricardo Patriceo crossed for a five-pointer in the second half.
No.8 Beard is not the sort to dress things up or make excuses.
“It was a tough day,” he said. “We normally set a high team standard. We’ll get back to that.”
Under-14s and u15s show staying powerGisborne under-14s were simply superb in their 55-24 win while the u15 team’s 17-15 loss proved the school’s juniors match up well against high-quality opposition.
“The boys had a good first half,” said u14s coach Duane Hihi. “We played with structure and executed well, exploiting the outside channels.
“That said, we were complacent in the second half and execution was lacking. Rotorua’s three second-half tries came from our errors.”
Gisborne’s try-scorers were captain and fullback King Maxwell (2), lock Hikurangi Reid, lock Matiu Anderson, openside flanker Ben Phelps, second-five Taimana Teneti, centre Xavier Tuapawa, left wing Wiremu Maxwell and reserve halfback Steven Huata, with King Maxwell kicking five conversions.
The visitors led 43-5 at halftime.
Skipper Maxwell and centre Tuapawa shared the player-of-the-day award.
Gisborne u15s captain and No.8 Lochi Mead opened the scoring with a try 16 minutes into the first half.
Rotorua struck back with tries to blindside flanker Flynn Simmons and loosehead prop Poihipi Papanui, both converted by the halfback and player of the day Tome Poona, who also kicked a penalty for a 17-5 halftime lead.
Gisborne won the second half, with tries to first five John Horua and replacement fullback Clay Barry.
“It was a perfect day for fast-paced rugby,” said Mead, his side’s player of the day.
“Every team we play is bigger than us, so we work hard to make up for that through our skills.”
