RUGBY: Wanganui City College's cup is full after its rugby first XV beat Porirua's powerful Mana College in the final of the Hurricanes Co-Ed Cup on Saturday.
City College thus has a season's record of 19 wins and just one loss from 20 matches, making it the school's best effort in
a long time.
Saturday's match was played at Porirua on a cold day with the southerly sweeping up from the Antarctic, so the visiting side took the elements when captain Te Piwa Bullock won the toss.
And it was the skipper who was unlucky early when he crossed for what appeared a good try, only to have it disallowed.
But City College kept the pressure up and Aaron Paranihi took a final pass from a planned forward move to open the scoring.
Hayden Holloway was controlling the game well from first five-eighth, and his kicking placed the Mana backline under steady pressure.
The pressure told in the 20th minute when Holloway called Paul Perez back on the cut and he scored untouched under the bar. Ashley Mason converted and 12-0 was the halftime score.
Then it was 35 minutes of facing the wind and Mana did not disappoint. They scored a converted try after a lot of pressure for 12-7, City College hit back with a runaway from centre Asaeli Tikoirotuma for 17-7, and then Manascored again for 17-14 and still 10 minutes to go.
But City dug deep and survived ? and a key was in the better technique of the smaller forward pack ? especially in the loose where Mana was apparently bested for the first time this season.
