Ross Shield: Second-day action at the tournament in Napier

Hastings East player Kyzlah Matchitt tackled by Jay Harrison, of Hastings West, in the Wednesday match-of -the-day. East won 38-22 to set-up a Thursday clash with fellow unbeaten side Napier. Photo / Paul Taylor

Central Hawke’s Bay bounced back from a heavy first-day defeat to win its second match at the 2023 Ross Shield Hawke’s Bay Primary Schools rugby tournament by drawing first blood in the race to be the top country team in the competition.

CHB were beaten 71-0 by defending Ross Shield champions and city side Napier in the six-team tournament’s opening match on Tuesday but in Wednesday’s opening game beat Wairoa 29-7 in the first game of its defence of the Life Members Salver, symbol of supremacy among the two sides and fellow country sub-union Dannevirke.

The second-day win was all-but sealed with a 19-0 lead by halftime, with CHB ultimately scoring five tries, including 2 to Lockie Singer, who also kicked 2 conversions.

For CHB it was also a successful defence of the Tino Amato Shield, played in memory of a player who grew-up in Wairoa but who died after being injured while playing a Hawke’s Bay Premier-grade match for Waipukurau club Central in 2002.

Napier kept their try-line intact with a 59-0 win over Dannevirke, and Hastings East drew first-blood in the clashes of the big three with a 38-22 win over Hastings West.

The Wairoa team after being beaten by Central Hawke's Bay, awaiting another big country clash on Thursday against Dannevirke. Photo / Paul Taylor

Unbeaten sides Napier and Hastings play the match of the day on Thursday, kicking-off at 1pm, followed by Central Hawke’s Bay and Hastings West at 2pm and the next country teams’ north-south clash at 3pm between Dannevirke and Wairoa.