YMP’s long wait ends

YMP’S SCUD SET TO STRIKE: YMP openside flanker Shayde Skudder hones in on Waikohu’s lone defender, winger Hemi Edwards, in Saturday’s premier rugby match at Manutuke. Skudder has support, from left, Brian Whaitiri-White, Eru Wharerau, Rocky Kingi and Phillip Coetzee. YMP won 20-14. Picture by Paul Rickard

YMP v WaikohuYMP ended a two-year wait for a win on their home ground at Manutuke with a 20-14 victory over Waikohu in Poverty Bay premier rugby on Saturday. The three-tries-to-two win also opened a five-point gap between fourth-placed Farmvets YMP and Aon Waikohu, with two matches to play before the semifinals.

“This was a big win for the boys,” said YMP player-coach Reihana Wyllie, who caused Waikohu problems with his straight, hard running and perfectly-weighted passes. “Not only was it our last chance to get a win at Manutuke for this season, we needed four points to stop Waikohu going ahead of us in the race for fourth.

“It’s not over yet. There are still two games to play, but it’s in our own hands now. If we’d lost, we’d have been relying on other teams to help us. Before the game we talked about the boys also doing it for the whanau. We fought long and hard to get home games at Manutuke and we’ve always had good support whenever we’ve played there. We wanted to reward the whanau. About 90 percent of this team whakapapa to the area.”

Wyllie scored the first try after 10 minutes in a half that YMP dominated. But the teams went to the break with Wyllie’s try all that separated them, thanks to a magnificent defensive performance from Waikohu.

“We knew it wasn’t going to be enough and that Waikohu would come back at us,” Wyllie said. “It was important that we scored first after the break.”

Centre Mangu Kemp obliged but not before the hard work had been done by Wyllie, first five-eighth Willie Brown, prop Rocky Kingi and lively left-winger Jeremy Ferris. Ferris could have been greedy and tried to take on the last defender. Instead, he drew his marker before flipping a pass infield to Kemp to score closer to the posts, giving fullback Brian Whaitiri-White an easy conversion,

Ahead 20-0 with 15 minutes to go, YMP were reduced to 14 men when referee Tuki Sweeney, who had a good game, sin-binned replacement back Cruze Burton for not having a mouthguard. That was the signal for Waikohu to hit back, and prop Robert Jones gave his side a lifeline with a try in the 69th minute. Four minutes later, loosie Tulsa Kaui charged over, and when Brad Haimona kicked the conversion, the men from Te Karaka were within a converted try of snatching the win.

With time up, fullback Larry Fleming launched a counter-attack that took play to within two metres of the YMP line. But the ball was spilled and YMP were a relieved side as they left the pitch. Although disappointed with the loss, Waikohu coach Tahi Hiroki said the battle for fourth was not over yet.

“We’re five points behind YMP with two games to go and 10 points up for grabs,” said Hiroki, whose side play OBM next. “We’ll give it everything we’ve got over the next two weeks,”

YMP 20 (Reihana Wyllie, Mangu Kemp, Jeremy Ferris tries; Brian Whaitiri-White con).

Waikohu 14 (Robert Jones, Tulsa Kaui tries; Brad Haimona con).

HT: 6-0 (YMP).

HSOB v PiratesWOODBANK High School Old Boys ran in 12 unanswered tries in their 86-0 win against a depleted Kevin Hollis Glass Pirates side at the Oval. Beaten 116-0 by OBM last week, Pirates had another tough day at the office and trailed 55-0 at halftime.

“They could have defaulted and left us without a game, so they deserve credit for not doing that,” HSOB coach Wayne Ensor said. “I was pleased with the way that we kept trying to play as a team to a game plan. In games like this it’s easy for players to get carried away and try to do too much, but it wasn’t until late in the game that things got a bit loose. The other pleasing aspect was we didn’t pick up any injuries.”

No.8 Siosiua Moala made his comeback from injury and played the last 15 minutes.

“We don’t want to rush him back, which is why we gave him time only towards the end of the game,” said Ensor, who was impressed with Pirates back Devonte Martin. “He never gave up trying, and made some good breaks.”

HSOB 86 (Trent Proffit 2, Viliami Kava 2, Evan Bryant 2, Russell Burns, Kolo Fonohema, Andrew Knight, Tevita Maka, Zane Boyle, Korey Love tries; Corey Reihana 7 con).

Pirates 0.

HT: 55-0.