Poverty Bay Rugby coach and referee development manager Miah Nikora chose Waikohu tighthead prop Jarryd Broughton as the McDonald's Gisborne Player of the Match in the Waikohu-OBM game.
For the equivalent awards in the other games, Poverty Bay player development manager Kahu Tamatea chose HSOB halfback-cum-fullback Sam Middleton in the HSOB-Pirates game and Poverty Bay Heartland head coach Tom Cairns selected Ngatapa loosehead prop Atonio Walker-Leawere in the Ngatapa-YMP game.
Jarryd Broughton was also Waikohu's own pick as the team's player of the day. Other team player-of-the-day awards went to halfback Braedyn Grant (OBM), loosehead prop James Jenkins (HSOB), second five-eighth Paora Mullany (Pirates), centre Nashwen Mouton (Ngatapa) and openside flanker-cum-centre Te Peehi Fairlie (YMP).
In Week 6 games this weekend — the last fixtures in the first of two rounds before the semi-finals and grand final — Pirates play Waikohu on Barry Park 1, Ngatapa play YMP at Paddy's Park and HSOB play OBM on Oval 2.
On Saturday, around 800 people watched the two games at the Oval.
Both Waikohu player-coach Ra Broughton and his captain, hooker Geoff Pari, said conditions determined tactics.
Pari said Waikohu took a while to adjust to the wet weather and made errors.
“Credit goes there to OBM and the pressure they put us under at close quarters,” he said.
“As defending champions, they rolled their sleeves up, showed heart and gave us a hard time.”
Broughton said mistakes were inevitable in such conditions.
Waikohu's answer was simply to play for territory and kick for space. First-five Kelvin Smith, a key player in that plan, kicked well.
OBM No.8 Nicolas Carizzo and tighthead prop Blake Beard set the tone for a brutal encounter with strong carries early in the match, and OBM hooker Rikki Terekia visited the “blood bin” in the sixth minute.
Both teams continued to take the ball into contact from 22 to 22, until Waikohu broke the deadlock. Surging over halfway on the left side of the ground, Waikohu forced OBM vice-captain and fullback Scott McKinley to make a covering tackle on second-five Leroy Taiapa, 15 metres off the left touch, 17m from the OBM goal-line.
Towering lock Daniel Timoti made a charge to the line before Pari picked up the ball and drove a metre to score the opening try. Smith converted for 7-0.
Grant and Terekia both brought down a rampaging Jarryd Broughton in separate instances midway through the first half.
On 26 minutes, Banks struck for OBM, off a flick-pass infield from McKinley as he fell in Waikohu wing KC Wilson's tackle on the left touch. First-five Michael Fox converted for 7-7.
In the 31st minute — from a scrum set seven metres off the left sideline one metre into OBM's 22 — Waikohu worked across the ground over six phases for openside flanker Shannon Cameron to score 15m to the right of the posts.
Waikohu led 12-7 at the break.
The closest either side came to a tighthead at the scrum was to force the attacking halfback to kick the ball from his No.8 or fetcher's feet out to the first-five or midfield on the volley.
The scrum count at halftime was 6-4 to OBM, 6-6 at game's end. The first half lineout count was 2-2, later 10-4 to OBM. Waikohu led the first-half penalty count 5-3, but the final tally was 7-6 to OBM.
Carrizo and OBM blindside flanker Evan Bryant were their team's best lineout forwards, Bryant winning excellent ball throughout the match.
Waikohu's sheer power — at the scrum and with ball in hand — was a telling factor.
OBM tackled hard from start to finish, conceding only three tries against a side capable of scoring that many in one half alone.
OBM head coach Trevor Crosby said their game overall had picked up.
“On Saturday, we retained possession for long periods and we maintained continuity, even under pressure,” he said.
“Our combinations at the lineout were better, our scrum had its moments and the boys rallied behind their captain (lock Jacob Cook).
“We showed courage under fire.”
Following the restart, Waikohu soon achieved field position, courtesy of a 50m wipers kick by fullback Ethine Reeves from centreground, just short of halfway, into the right corner.
After a scrum set 10m from OBM's goal-line, seven metres off the right touch, Smith was driven forward by the Waikohu pack. He slipped a pass to loosehead prop Tulsa Kaui, who scored five metres in from the corner flag, three minutes into the second half. With Smith's conversion, Waikohu took a 19-7 lead.
There was no foul or undisciplined play during the game but in the 49th minute, Banks and his teammate, reserve hooker Dayne Williams, clashed heads in the left pocket. The game was stopped for 15 minutes as a result.
In the 51st minute of playing time, Grant hared across the ground to make a superb cover-tackle on Wilson near the right sideline as both teams applied — and withstood — significant pressure.
On 55 minutes, referee Royce Maynard awarded Waikohu a penalty on attack near the left touch, only for the visitors to kick the ball dead in-goal.
Two minutes after that, they were penalised on the OBM goal-line as they pressed the attack.
In the 62nd minute, again with all hands on deck for OBM, Cook — back in the side after two weeks out of town — showed his versatility with a line-kick from five metres in front of the posts, to the left touch, 35m upfield.
In the 65th minute, Booth went down. Play was stopped once more, and the match ended on that note.
Cook said it was OBM's tightest game of the season up front.
“We showed more commitment than we had before,” he said.
“We'd put a lot of work into our set-piece — in particular, our lineout — in the week leading up to this, and both teams got turnovers.
“The difference is that Waikohu took their opportunities.”
