YMP were dominant at the scrum. They broke up the OBM pack with ease and frequently earned penalties.
The OBM scrum was in such dire straits that on multiple occasions OBM chose to take the lineout when given the option.
YMP were comfortably in control of the game but OBM defended diligently and kept themselves in contention, even though victory was improbable.
YMP had several additional opportunities to score but lacked accuracy in their final pass.
Coach Brian Leach said it was a “huge lift” from the game they played last week.He viewed dominance in the forwards as crucial to YMP’s success.
“It was so pleasing to see the forwards do that,” he said.
“All our structures fell into place.”
Leach said the team had adopted a change in attitude leading up to the game, and they had started “playing as a team”.
“Come Thursday (training), the boys’ mindset was ready and we had a really good training session.
“Full credit to OBM; even though they were under the pump, they kept coming back. We had to be on top of them for the whole game or they’d come back.”
OBM coach Clint Pirihi said YMP had played more as a team than OBM had, although his side’s cause wasn’t helped by the need to shuffle players around to cover injuries.
“You can’t defend all game and expect to win. For the first half, except in patches, we couldn’t play our game plan.”
He said he was proud of his team’s effort, but YMP deserved their win.
“They did us in the scrumming. The set phases made the difference.”
OBM 14 (Rikki Terekia, Ian Tichborne tries; Jake Holmes 2 con).
YMP 31 (Nehe Papuni, Isaiah Leach, Austin Brown, Taine Aupouri tries; Brown 3 con, pen, Andrew Tauatevalu con).
Ngatapa had a more scrappy time in their game against HSOB at Patutahi.
They controlled long stretches of the game but could not make the inroads needed to increase their lead.
HSOB played with heart and passion, but were outgunned.
Ngatapa took the chances they made and restricted HSOB, despite their repeated attempts to build pressure in the Ngatapa 22.
The Ngatapa scrum was strong and gave them a good platform for their attack, but HSOB were resilient and well organised.
In a game where the bounce of the ball was going in Ngatapa’s favour, their first try came from a charge-down to halfback Benito Barry as HSOB tried to clear the ball at set-piece.
Ngatapa also scored a contender for try of the season when winger Jack Lewis caught first five-eighth Michael Livingston’s cross-kick to dot the ball down in the corner for an unconverted try.
HSOB coach Danny Boyle said the move was something more likely to be seen in a Super Rugby game than local premier-grade club rugby.
He thought the game was relatively even, other than the charge-down try and Lewis’s cross-kick try.
Boyle said he was proud of the way his team fronted and gave it their all, but he said they never had Ngatapa in trouble.
“The attitude from our players was brilliant. That came from the training runs we had last week.
“The main positive aspects were the good team attitude and the aftermatch comments that it was a clean game.
“We’ve spent quite a bit of time talking about playing hard but keeping it clean and leaving the refs out of it.”
Boyle said HSOB would focus on their scrummaging, which they hadn’t done a lot of over the past two seasons.
Ngatapa coach Stephen Hickey said he was proud of the way his team played in the first half.
They probably should’ve gone into the sheds with an even bigger lead, he said.
“We dominated the first half. Our set-piece worked really well and we defended quite well, too.”
He said Ngatapa’s aggression in defence was vital in restricting the go-forward ball of HSOB, but he gave HSOB credit for sticking to their guns and providing a tough challenge.
Hickey said it was still unclear, after two weeks of competition, who were the front-runners of the Civil Project Solutions premier grade. All the teams were capable of being successful.
“I think it’s going to be an even competition. On the day, you’ve got to turn up to play, otherwise you’re going to be in trouble.”
