Metro colts crucify opposition

Metro's Brayden Maua is taken to ground during his side's 91-7 thrashing of Fielding Old Boys' Oroua at Spriggens Park on Good Friday.

Fifteen tries and eight conversions spoke volumes about the early season dominance St Johns Club Whanganui Metro has in the Manawatu McDonalds Colts division rugby competition.

The round three match at Spriggens Park on Good Friday was a complete demolition of Feilding Old Boys' Oroua, a side that could only reply with one converted try for a 91-7 scoreline at the final whistle.

Metro manager Chris Friedel modestly described the match as a "well-executed" victory by the Whanganui lads.

"The scary thing is that I really don't think we have got anywhere near reaching our potential this season," Friedel said in the absence of co-coaches Darryl Malcolm and Carl Gibson yesterday.

Like Metro's first two round games - 72-12 against Old Boy's Marist and 53-37 against competition newcomers Kia Toa - the tries were spread evenly between backs and forwards on Good Friday.

"I'm not sure of the mix of tries, but it seemed similar to the game against Kia Toa where our nine tries came from nine different players, except this time we scored 15 tries. We still have players to come back into the fold. Our captain Sean Morahan has been away for the last two weeks shearing and we still have others yet to come in from injury."

Friedel conceded that just like last season, Metro had yet to meet the stronger sides in the Manawatu competition, but it was clear with the three rounds played so far the team was on song to better it third place on debut last year.

"Obviously our main opposition will come from Massey White, but it will be interesting to see how we shape up against them this year."

Massey White has featured prominently in the list of Gordon Brown Memorial Trophy winners over many years, including 2014, 2015 and 2016 where it went through the season unbeaten. Whanganui High School has finished runner-up the last two years with Metro finishing third on debut last season.

WHS is in transition mode rebuilding its 1st XV after losing 13 players from last year so subsequently has not fielded a team this season.

Metro appears to have yet another easy hurdle to leap this weekend when it shapes up against Massey Blue, the university's more social side.

The most awaited and perhaps most telling clash of the season will be when Metro meet Massey White at Spriggens Park on May 13.

This season the competition features two round robins over 14 weeks with the winner of the first round claiming the Broome Shield with victory in the second securing the Gordon Brown Memorial Trophy.

Metro and Massey White top the table unbeaten after round three with nine points apiece.