Strong show by GBHS can’t overcome Feilding

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

A spirited Gisborne Boys' High School first 15 lost 17-10 to Feilding Agricultural High School in an exhibition of skill and grit on Friday.

The Super 8 competition, the team's major focus, is now just one pre-season game -— against Wellington's Scots College in the capital next Saturday — away from the S8 opener. The Super 8 opener will involve the GBHS first 15, second 15 and under-15 team at the Rectory on May 29.

The clash with Feilding at Whitmore Park gave Boys' High head coach Ryan Tapsell good reason to praise his crew's match-effort.

“There is confidence within the group because the boys are starting to find the mongrel we're after, and there were good learnings for them going forward: better for that to happen now instead of during the Super 8,” said Tapsell.

Gisborne captain and tighthead prop Nathaniel Hauiti — but for bodies blocking referee Joshua Strong's view — might well have been awarded two tries.

Hauiti said: “I was really happy with the performance the lads put on. We achieved all the work-ons on defence I talked about in the lead-up to Feilding. We were up in their faces with great intensity and Nik Patumaka really stood out for me. He stopped Feilding's runners in their tracks.”

Gisborne Boys' No.8 Patumaka and his Feilding opposite AJ Malili-Malo-Lauano won their teams' MVP (most valuable player) awards.

GBHS showed their intent in the first 17 seconds, then putting the first points up: a penalty goal to fullback King Maxwell. Stung by this, Feilding struck back in the ninth minute with a try to centre Matt Florence: from an attacking scrum 11m off the left sideline at the Gisborne 22, Feilding first went right, then back left and Florence, in support of winger Christian Thompson, took the pass and scored for 5-3.

Florence's try was unconverted. Feilding right wing Nickster Tafolo, who got a double on the day, was the next man to score, 25 minutes in. Feilding established momentum in Gisborne territory, and the Feilding backs then called for the ball. In the 5-2 overlap, FAHS captain and hooker Vernon Bason found Tafolo with an assist to score. With first-five Mosese Palelei's conversion, Feilding led 12-3.

GBHS hammered away on the home team's goal-line for the last six minutes of the first half, Feilding coach Justin Lock moved to comment on not just his own team's gutsy defence but Gisborne's ferocity: “The two forward packs went to work against each other. We were all impressed by Gisborne's physicality, set-piece, and their backs are handy, too.”

In the 56th minute, Tafolo scored off a turnover for 17-3, with GBHS having the last say with a gem of a try to first-five Carlos Hihi four minutes from fulltime. From a midfield scrum in Feilding's 22, Boys' High pressed to the right: Hihi's footwork, balance and strength over 10m saw him home.

Maxwell converted Hihi's try to close it to 17-10.

Hauiti said that Boys' High locks Tyla Keelan-Phillips and Max Briant executed their roles at the lineout, and Bason agreed: “Those two are big guys.”