Collegiate 1st XV beaten

Big WCS No8 Finau Nimatasu attempted to barge through the Francis Douglas defence, but was soon wrapped up in his side's 35-21 loss to the New Plymouth visitors.

The Wanganui Collegiate School 1st X1 handed the visitors a 35-21 victory after making a poor start to its clash against Francis Douglas Memorial College yesterday.

The New Plymouth visitors went on the offensive immediately and WCS was unable to stem the flow of one way traffic to its scoreline. The scoreboard made miserable reading for the homeside with 20-nil posted at half time.

While the match was a traditional college match-up it also doubled as round three of the Central North Island (CNI) Secondary School rugby competition that WCS competes in.

WCS director of rugby, Guy Lennox, said the homeside made a spirited start to the second spell and had bridged the gap to 20-14 early, although the comeback roll was short-lived.

"It was a poor start that allowed them to get away on us in the first half and while we did show some signs of a comeback it didn't last," Lennox said.

"We did score 21 to their 15 in the second spell so won that half, but then we let in a couple of late tries. It was a poor effort all round and disappointing. It was a match we should have won and I'm loathe to single out any of the team for special mention."

In round one of the CNI, WCS lost to St Peters from Waikato and then drew 11-all with St Paul's College from Hamilton at a home game last Wednesday.

The WCS Under-15 side, however, gave their Francis Douglas opponents a 56-17 whipping, but disappointment returned when the WCS second XV lost miserably to their counterparts 19-nil.

A rare feature of the rugby exchange with FDMC was the three brothers that lined up on the day for WCS.

Hadleigh O'Leary played in the wing for the WCS 1st XV, while younger sibling Oliver was No8 for the seconds and Shaun a winger for the Under15s. Both Hadleigh and Shaun scored tries.