Awanui pick up where they left off

ON THE LOOSE: No8 Daniel O'Rourke in Awanui's season-opening 40-17 win over Te Rarawa in the headline game of Rally Day at Arnold Rae Park on Saturday.

AWANUI 40 TE RARAWA 17 (halftime 15-0)

The headline act of Rally Day, Mangonui senior rugby's traditional season opener, seemed a done dinner shortly after halftime when Awanui's Isimeli 'Meli' Tagea outpaced Te Rarawa's cover defence to dot down and increase the gap to 22-nil in favour of the champions.

At that point, it appeared the difference in class remained between the Men in Black and the rest of the field, a gap which has existed in Mangonui rugby for the past two seasons. But Awanui, perhaps guilty of complacency, were made to pay dearly for a subsequent lack of concentration as Rarawa got their tails up and scored three back-to-back tries to reduce the deficit significantly; a feat spectators struggled to recall any other team achieving in those past two years of total domination by Mangonui's most successful club.

A Te Rarawa win would have sent shockwaves through the province but it wasn't to be as the Bell Shield holders responded by stepping up another gear and finishing as convincing winners.

Awanui coach Mark Herring noted it was a pleasing performance considering it was pretty much the team's first proper run-out together since winning the final last August. Local gossip that the side hasn't enjoyed quite the same intensity in its build-up compared with previous seasons appeared to be based in truth in noting only four - instead of the maximum seven allowable - were on the bench. Herring issued a call to arms to the club's older players to get in behind the team and become more involved in this year's campaign.

The report from the Ahipara camp under new coach Rikki Horlock was that the players left the field in good heart, confident they're going to be a force to be reckoned with this season.

Awanui tries by Dane Subritzky Clarke, Isimeli Tagea, Carl Lanigan, William Henry; while standouts included halfback Alfred Preuss, and Shane Sun and No8 Daniel Rourke in an impressive forward pack effort. Rarawa points, tries: Dylan Phillips 2 (and also back POTD) and Johnny Andrews, with Eli Morrogh converting. Another to stand out, as selected by Te Rarawa RFC life member Joe Tini, was Tunney Thrupp.

KAITAIA 34 MOTUKOHU 33 (ht 29-12): Offering nearly 70 points and a thrilling cliff-hanging finale, this curtain-raiser blew the headline act off the Rally Day stage. Well behind at halftime, the North Hokianga boys clawed their way and went in front by 33-29 with three minutes to go, only for Tom Murray (who played for the now defunct Ngati Kuri last season) to make a barnstorming run up the wing, bumping off would-be tacklers and crashing over for a last-minute try which gave Kaitaia the spoils.

Motukohu stalwart John Guest said there were plenty of young new faces in this year's side, including several from Panguru (although it was left unsaid if these were part of the fallout from Ngaru Roa's vanishing act midway through the 2014 season.)

"For a first game, good to have a good turnout, a reasonably competitive team, and have a good run," he said, admitting that losing by one point was worse than losing by 10 in some ways, "especially after you've had the lead". Motukohu standout was winger Harawe Taniora with two tries, while Sam Wallace was also among the tryscorers.

EASTERN 90 NATIVES 0: Any edge of excitement over this fixture being the debut of the competition's new arrivals was soon dulled by the final scoreline, as last year's Bell Shield finalists ran rampant. Eastern's Mike Jurlina reluctantly stated the obvious in noting the score did blow out "a bit" but credited the young Natives who were "right into us" for the first 15 minutes.

"They have some big boys and with more fitness, plus their home ground they will be tougher. For us, our newer young players stepped up well and show a lot of promise, but our two best on the day were probably hooker Jack Potter and fullback Johnny Wright."

Aupouri had the bye and will play their first game against Awanui this weekend.

Also notable at Rally Day was the attendance of newly appointed Taniwha coach Richie Harris, there to enjoy the three games on the day's bill in warm mid-autumn conditions in the Far North while assessing local talent, alongside NRU chief executive Jeremy Parkinson and Murray Dunn, the NRU council chairman.

Bay of IslandsKERIKERI 20 MOEREWA 25 (ht 9-10): The champions continuing their winning streak - one of a series of intensely contested affairs in the opening round of the Bay of Islands premier club rugby season - by beating Kerikeri on Saturday in a 'replay' of last year's final by three tries to one.

Moerewa coach Paul Owen said it was good to come away from Kerikeri with a win, naturally, but admitted the match itself wasn't much of a spectacle with five yellow cards and a 50-minute second half which seemed to go on "forever".

"We were sort of struggling a bit. Discipline wasn't great, especially by our side," he said, noting the homeside took full advantage of this by kicking five penalties. Moerewa standouts included prop William Cherrington with two tries, lock Rob Tanenui with the other, and centre Andrew Kaveinga kicking two penalties and a conversion, while also notable were captain Rhys Te Nana and halfback Kane Brooks.

Owen noted his side had, more or less, retained the core of last year's title-winning squad but there had been a number of disappointing pre-season

CONTINUED - PAGE 11