Bunnythorpe's Sam Wells is tackled by a Foxton defender.
Bunnythorpe's Sam Wells is tackled by a Foxton defender.
Sunny conditions and some exciting rugby greeted spectators as they watched country teams Foxton and Bunnythorpe go head-to-head at Easton Park on Saturday.
With both teams playing great rugby, Foxton managed a late try for a 24-24 draw.
The game was fairly even to start with, but soon Bunnythorpe startedto dominate with some good turns of pace out wide. They continued to show their strength and were ahead 17-0 at halftime.
Things started to improve for Foxton after halftime with a fine break down the wing resulting in a try and their first points on the scoreboard.
They were still 17-5 down with 20 minutes left to play.
Foxton managed another quick try but Bunnythorpe fought back with a try of their own to stretch their lead to 24-10.
Bunnythorpe player Sam Ratahi gets caught by Foxton forward Isaac O' Reilly.
Foxton then piled on some points to be 24-17 down with time almost up, before Kale Eriksson managed a late try for Foxton to tie the game up.
“Although we were struggling for numbers, we had a few fill-ins from the Bs to help us, which upset our pattern of play,” Foxton coach Wayne Napier said of the well-earned draw.
“That really showed in the first quarter of the game. In the first 20 minutes of the second half we were a little impatient, not trusting our systems.
“Once they managed to gain territory, the new players came to understand the system and that’s when it really started to show, and a good result prevailed,” Napier said.
Bunnythorpe coach Jeremy Waitoa said: “A good performance from our guys today, I told them at halftime just keep to the basics, work to the pods and the result was a wonderful finish.”
