Rotorua Daily Post
  • Rotorua Daily Post home
  • Latest news
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Sport
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Residential property listings
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
  • Rural
  • Sport

Locations

  • Tauranga
  • Te Puke
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Tokoroa
  • Taupō & Tūrangi

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales

Weather

  • Rotorua
  • Tauranga
  • Whakatāne
  • Tokoroa
  • Taupō

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • What the Actual
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Rotorua Daily Post / Sport

Rugby: Standout sides continue to impress

Bay of Plenty Times
5 Jul, 2016 02:30 AM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Tauranga rubgy team Bethlehem College put up a spirited second half performance before succumbing 34-7 at home to the lads from Te Wharekura o Mauao. Watch them in action here.

Western Heights High School and Te Wharekura o Mauao continue to be the 1st XVs to beat in the Bethlehem Coachlines Secondary Schools division one competition.

The two standout teams this year added to their impressive run of form with comfortable wins on Saturday.

Western Heights easily accounted for Otumoetai College 52-3 in Rotorua while in the local derby Bethlehem College put up a spirited second half performance before succumbing 34-7 at home to Te Wharekura o Mauao.

Bethlehem got off to the perfect start on their own home pitch with a try to flanker Greg Lees, converted by Xavier Albert within three minutes of the start.

But despite all their endeavour, particularly in the second half when they dominated territory with a strong tail wind, Bethlehem were unable to score again.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Much of that can be put down to outstanding defence from Te Wharekura o Mauao, who look well drilled and capable of scoring from deep in their own half.

Centre Te Aparua Tata finished off a good team effort to score their first try, followed soon by a barnstorming run to the tryline by second-five Kiripa Clarke.

Flanker Taituha Woller scored to stretch the lead further before the best individual effort of the game came from left winger Joe Dinsdale, who took off from halfway and skinned the defence with a classic winger's outside swerve.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Leading 24-7 at halftime, it did not take Te Wharekura o Mauao long to add to their tally when halfback Ronin Ainsley slid over.

Fullback Jake Gardiner made it 34-7 with a fine individual effort but credit to Bethlehem for dominating the final 20 minutes of the match, even if handling errors under relentless defensive pressure cost them a try or two.

Te Wharekura o Mauao assistant coach Rewi Hamilton praised his team's defensive effort.

"Our strength today was our communication on defence. Our fullback [Jake Gardiner] works well monitoring the line, talking up the defensive line so that was excellent," Hamilton said.

"A good game is always won on good defence. The boys work hard on defence and they work as a unit to achieve that. We like to play direct actually but after that the space seems to open up for the boys to show what they can do."

Bethlehem coach Brendon Phillips is pleased with the progress his side has made.

"I am pretty happy with where we are at," he said. "Five games on the road, which was just the way the draw ran, was difficult but it built a bit of toughness in our boys.

"Wharekura and Heights have been the two teams to beat all season. [Today] we fell off a few tackles, lost a little bit of intensity and we also lost two players in the warm-up with illness."

Bethlehem College play Aquinas College at 6pm at Te Puna's Maramataga Park tomorrow night before both teams leave this weekend to compete in the Gold Coast Rugby Carnival.

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Sport

Rotorua Daily Post

How a Rotorua gym is gearing up for the world jiu-jitsu championships

19 May 10:03 PM
Rotorua Daily Post

Key All Black re-signs with Chiefs, NZ Rugby until 2027

19 May 07:00 PM
Sport

Nigella Lane outruns Dark Destroyer for 'deserved' Rotorua win

10 May 05:00 PM

The Hire A Hubby hero turning handyman stereotypes on their head

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Sport

How a Rotorua gym is gearing up for the world jiu-jitsu championships

How a Rotorua gym is gearing up for the world jiu-jitsu championships

19 May 10:03 PM

They need to raise $63,000 for flights and accommodation for the team.

Key All Black re-signs with Chiefs, NZ Rugby until 2027

Key All Black re-signs with Chiefs, NZ Rugby until 2027

19 May 07:00 PM
Nigella Lane outruns Dark Destroyer for 'deserved' Rotorua win

Nigella Lane outruns Dark Destroyer for 'deserved' Rotorua win

10 May 05:00 PM
Tomodachi delivers milestone win for Andrew Scott in Rotorua mud

Tomodachi delivers milestone win for Andrew Scott in Rotorua mud

10 May 05:48 AM
Gold demand soars amid global turmoil
sponsored

Gold demand soars amid global turmoil

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Rotorua Daily Post e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Rotorua Daily Post
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • What the Actual
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven CarGuide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP