Ōhaupō Memorial Park hosted some exciting rugby on Saturday as Ōhaupō took on Taupiri on their annual sponsor’s day.
Mud and wet weather couldn’t dampen the crowd’s spirit as they witnessed a confident 38-5 division 1 victory for the Ōhaupō senior A side over the north Waikato mountain men.
Thehome side were up 19-5 at the half and ended up scoring six tries to one – much to the relief of the players after losing the previous two matches.
Ōhaupō's tries were scored by Queyst Michael-Tapu, Charlie Matthews, Eli Beattie (2), co-captain Alfie Broughton and fullback Lucas Corney, with pivot Josh Thomas adding four conversions.
The returning Dylan Samson played his first match at openside flanker and could have fooled anyone that he was experienced on the side of the scrum, earning man of the match honours.
Prop Liam Palaone was strong on defence before going off injured while Broughton and Corney challenged the Taupiri defence all day, taking any attacking opportunity they could.
“It was awesome to be back on home soil/mud in front of our sponsors after a tough couple of away games. The attitude was really good from our boys which led to accuracy and good decision making in pretty tough conditions,” said Broughton.
“The scoreboard didn’t actually reflect how close it felt all game. Taupiri threw a lot at us and were unlucky a couple of times.”
