Rugby: Homework pays for Otahuhu

By GRAHAM REDDAWAY

Otahuhu coach Geoff Moon, as head of physical education at Aorere College, is not afraid to dish out plenty of homework, not only to pupils at the South Auckland school but also to himself and co-coach Trevor Snookes.

On Saturday, Otahuhu scored an important 26-10 victory over leading Auckland club side Suburbs, and it had as much to do with the hours the pair spent studying a videotape of their first-round clash, won narrowly by Otahuhu, as anything that occurred on the field.

Moon and Snookes felt the secret to beating Suburbs was to work out their pattern, especially in lineouts and scrums, and after clocking up the hours, sometimes long into the night, they believed they had the answers.

After 15 minutes, mobile Otahuhu lock Sika Poching put his coaches' plan into action and began pinching ball from Suburbs' feed to lineouts almost at will.

Given more than their share of the ball, the red and blacks ground down and frustrated a tough opposition to such an extent that the game became niggardly as it wore on.

Despite his size, Poching's mobility was also evident when he outran the Suburbs defence for a try after he had booted through from 40m out.

Poching came under the scrutiny of Keiran Keane, the former All Black, who now coaches Marlborough in the second division of the NPC, and later in the night he had signed up to play for Marlborough.

Otahuhu, with two games remaining before the four finalists are found, have taken a one-point lead over Suburbs.

The pair appear safely through, but there is a logjam for the remaining two spots, with three points separating Ponsonby (21), University (20), Waitemata (19) and Waitakere (18).

Ponsonby pulled off a drab 15-10 win over University, and Waitemata's 23-18 victory did not help Papatoetoe's bid to stay in the first division. Marist might have saved themselves the embarrassment of being included in the promotion-relegation series by scoring a 28-20 win over Waitakere City.

Second-division big guns Tamaki and Teachers Eastern scored easy wins, Tamaki 58-0 over East Tamaki and Teachers Eastern 57-8 over College Rifles. Roskill Districts beat Mt Wellington 41-18 and Te Papapa Onehunga beat Eden 26-15.