Napier Boys High School first five-eighth Henry Williams is tackled short of the tryline during Saturday's win against Tauranga Boys College. Photo / Warren Buckland
Napier Boys High School first five-eighth Henry Williams is tackled short of the tryline during Saturday's win against Tauranga Boys College. Photo / Warren Buckland
The lack of elation from the day's hero, second five-eighth Keegan Christian-Goss, summed up Napier Boys High School's third consecutive 1st XV Super 8 rugby win on Saturday.
"There were some early errors and things were untidy. But we gutsed it out," Christian-Goss said after Napier's 26-12 win against TaurangaBoys College in Napier. Had it not been for his 65th-minute try which broke a 12-all deadlock and three conversions the hosts could easily have been handed their first loss in the comp from the winless visitors.
"I was pleased with my own game," added Christian-Goss, who was influential in some solid defensive play from the Napier backs and thirsty for work on attack.
He is hoping to make the Hurricanes under-18 team this year. His head coach, Brendon Ratcliffe, agreed the hosts' display was nowhere near as clinical as the previous week's 27-7 win against Hastings Boys High School.
"It was a bit rough and it took us three-quarters of the game to get going. Tauranga Boys brought heaps of line speed," Ratcliffe said.
Captain and hooker Tyrone Thompson was again inspirational in a Napier pack where No 8 Luke Russell and flanker Josh Gimblett were also valuable. Winger Jayden Stok joined Christian-Goss as the pick of the Napier backs.
Flanker Vaughtin Patena-Fortune, No 8 Shi Je Yong and prop Kaharoa Takuira-mita were all prominent in a Tauranga pack which enjoyed long periods of dominance. Halfback Louis Grindrod was outstanding in the visiting backline.
Grindrod is in his first season of rugby since collecting a serious neck injury when playing in the 2016 2nd XV fixture between the two schools in Napier. The Napier players acknowledged his gutsy comeback with a special presentation after the match.
Joint defending champions Hastings Boys High School returned to the winning path after the previous weekend's loss to Napier with an away 24-13 victory against Gisborne Boys High School. Hastings led 17-6 at halftime.
Hastings No 8 Liam Udy-Johns again led his troops by example and deserved his two tries. Blindside flanker Donovan Mataira was full of authority at lineout time and had a huge workrate.
Centre Andrew Hayward was always a threat on attack and solid on defence. Mataira and hooker Damarus Hokianga scored Hastings other tries and first five-eighth Shamara Brooks kicked two conversions. This weekend Hastings have an away clash against Rotorua Boys High School which will be their first televised Super 8 fixture of the season.
Scorers: NBHS 26 (Jayden Stok, Josh Gimblett, Keegan Christian-Goss, Patrick Teddy tries; Christian-Goss 3 cons), Tauranga Boys College 12 (Vaughtin Patena-Fortune, Kaharoa Takuira-mita tries; Izahn Le Compte con). HT: 5-all.
