Gisborne Herald
  • Gisborne Herald Home
  • Latest news
  • Business
  • Lifestyle
  • Sport

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Business
  • Lifestyle
  • Sport

Locations

  • Gisborne
  • Bay of Plenty
  • Hawke's Bay

Media

  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Gisborne

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Premium
Home / Gisborne Herald / Sport

Tokomaru test Uawa before pressure tells

Gisborne Herald
18 Mar, 2023 04:19 AMQuick Read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save
    Share this article

    Reminder, this is a Premium article and requires a subscription to read.

CLEARING THE BALL: Tawhiti halfback Zyon Collins clears the ball from the scrum, with Hikurangi halfback Jack Waihape and flanker Tory Brown (left) too late to stop him. Picture by Doone Harrison

CLEARING THE BALL: Tawhiti halfback Zyon Collins clears the ball from the scrum, with Hikurangi halfback Jack Waihape and flanker Tory Brown (left) too late to stop him. Picture by Doone Harrison

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

UAWA came alive in the second half to beat Tokomaru United 34-14 in East Coast senior rugby at Uawa Domain on Saturday.

The score doesn’t reflect how fast and tight the first 50 minutes were.

The tussle between the forward packs began moments after Uawa halfback Sam Parkes kicked off.

Both sides won their scrums and lineouts at this stage but there were some great individual performances from both sides in the loose.

United captain and prop Mike Chambers led the forwards well, and fellow front-rowers Joe Chaffey and Keely Hautapu made inroads, as did big second-rowers Saul Parata and Adam Williams.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Flanker Petera Smith was deservedly United’s player of the day, and Miraika Chaffey and No.8 Joe Brown made things difficult for Uawa’s inside backs.

Play see-sawed for 25 minutes before Chambers scored Tokomaru’s first try, in front of the posts. Jason Babbington converted.

Uawa took play down to the United tryline, and after five minutes Sam Parkes put their first points on the board, but the try went unconverted and United led 8-6 at halftime.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Uawa came out after the break determined to stick to their game plan, and scored two early tries. The first of these came from lock Rikki Kernohan, a regular standout performer for Uawa along with fellow second-rower Scott Lasenby. They dominated the lineouts in the second half.

Winger Vllayne Whakataka scored Uawa’s third try after taking a short pass from Sam Parkes, who kicked the conversion.

Uawa were dominating play by this time but that didn’t stop United wing James Te Kahika darting away for a 70-metre runaway try, dotting down between the posts. The conversion attempt missed, and Uawa led 20-14.

Captain Ben Parkes, Kerehama Blackman and Harley Phillips had a great second half tidying up loose play for Uawa. The front row of hooker Wyntah Riki and props Laman Davies and Dan Knubley — his team’s player of the day — scrummed well and made their mark with useful bursts in the loose.

Both sets of backs had useful roles in the game. Uawa first five-eighth Tamati Tangohau, second-five Jesse Saywell and centre Tawho Stewart used the ball well in the second half, and fullback BJ Sidney had a great game.

United centre Stefan Destounis went well on attack and defence, and first-five Matt Marino and second-five Canaan Parata made useful ground.

Uawa’s fourth try was scored by Kereama Leach, who came on at centre, and the team’s last try was scored by Sidney, after a great run through the defence. Sam Parkes converted.

The game was well controlled by Manawatu referee Stephen Soutar.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Uawa 34 (Rikki Kernohan, Sam Parkes, Vllayne Whakataka, Kereama Leach, BJ Sidney tries; Sam Parkes 2 con).

Tokomaru United 14 (James Te Kahika, Mike Chambers tries; Jason Babbington con)

HT: 8-6 (Tokomaru United).

Ruatoria City beat Waiapu 36-18 at Whakarua Park on Saturday.

Waiapu first-five Puna Manuel was the first to score, after six minutes, but the conversion attempt missed.

City replied eight minutes later with a strong back movement and a try to Corey Walker. Tim Barbarich converted.

City played their usual tactical game and began to accumulate the points.

Waiapu’s big forwards Hoto Te Whitu, Chris Haenga and Perrin Manuel played strong games.

Lock Richie Green scored City’s next points, and utility back Kahu Takarangi’s try took the score to 20-6 to City at halftime.

City were quickly back on attack in the second half, and a burst by Jayden Milner with a pass to Roha Dalton-Reedy resulted in another try, which was converted by Barbarich.

Waiapu replied through second-five Rory Waitoa’s try, which was unconverted. This was soon followed by a try to Waiapu wing Tihei Turei, which took the score to 28-18 and made the game a close contest for a while.

But City’s Kopere Swann sealed the victory for City with a late try. The try went unconverted but Barbarich added a penalty a few minutes later.

Ruatoria City 36 (Corey Walker, Richie Green, Kahu Takarangi, Roha Dalton-Reedy, Kopere Swann tries; Barbarich 2 con, pen).

Waiapu 18 (Puna Manuel, Rory Waitoa, Tihei Turei tries).

HT: 20-6.

TVC beat Tokararangi 60-0 at Te Araroa on Saturday.

The last time these two met, Tokararangi won 50-44, but on Saturday a family bereavement meant that many of their key players were missing.

Toka fielded a young team who were unable to stave off the TVC onslaught.

TVC 60 (Hoani Te Moana 2, Dion Hignett 2, Joey Ford, Floyd Haerewa, Verdon Bartlett, Solomone Vaka, Hirini Delamere tries; Manaia Nyman 2, Benny Haerewa con).

Tokararangi 0.

Tawhiti held off Hikurangi in the first 30 minutes of their game at Tokomaru Bay on Saturday.

However, Hiku then regrouped and progressed towards a 100-0 win that has taken them to second place in the competition.

Hikurangi 100 (Te Kaiwi Parata 4, Robbie Ngarimu 2, Billy Manuel 2, Caleb Lewis, Te Moni Soutar, Horace Lewis, Kris Palmer, Taneatoa Parata tries; Kris Palmer 11 con).

Tawhiti 0.

With two rounds to go there is plenty of air now between Uawa, leading on 41 points, and the rest of the top four.

Saturday’s games saw a rearrangement of the deck chairs among the potential semifinalists. Hikurangi are now second on 29 points, closely followed by TVC on 28 and Tokomaru United are fourth on 26.

Just outside the top four are Ruatoria City, fifth on 25 points, Tokararangi, sixth on 24, and Waiapu, seventh on 23. Hicks Bay are eighth on two points and Tawhiti have yet to score any competition points.

Save
    Share this article

    Reminder, this is a Premium article and requires a subscription to read.

Latest from Sport

Sport

Reign supreme: Four years in a row for King William

Sport

Gimme five: Boyder on target for Traktion

Sport

Opening night a whitewash of 6-0 scorelines


Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Sport

Reign supreme: Four years in a row for King William
Sport

Reign supreme: Four years in a row for King William

Brown wielded a deadly sword in a crushing 12th-hole victory in the championship final.

29 Jul 06:00 AM
Gimme five: Boyder on target for Traktion
Sport

Gimme five: Boyder on target for Traktion

29 Jul 12:30 AM
Opening night a whitewash of 6-0 scorelines
Sport

Opening night a whitewash of 6-0 scorelines

28 Jul 10:09 PM


Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

06 Jul 09:47 PM
NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Gisborne Herald
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Gisborne Herald
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • NZME Events
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Photo sales
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP