Metro men on a roll

Metro halfback Chris Ferguson (left) hangs off the Kia Toa put-in hoping for some action in his side's 53-35 victory at the weekend.

St Johns Club Wanganui Metro learned plenty from its 53-35 dominance over newcomers Kia Toa in the McDonalds Manawatu Colts division rugby clash in Palmerston Nortgh on Saturday.

Co-coaches Darryl Malcolm and Carl Gibson are taking a similar path to that employed early last season where backline match-ups were trailled to find the perfect starting line-ups when late season pressure came on.

"It was a pretty convincing performance on our part with the 53-35 final score perhaps not a true reflection of the game," Malcolm said.

"One guy scored four of their tries and I hate to say it, but he's shaping up to be another Te, maybe even better."

Malcolm was alluding to last year's Metro fullback Terangatira Waitokia who played for the Wanganui Heartland team and was named New Zealand Heartland Player of the Year.

"This guy was also at fullback and is an extremely promising player. But that's just what we needed, a game where points were scored against us. That gives us things to work on," Malcolm said.

Metro's nine tries on Saturday came from nine different players and from an even mix of forwards and backs.

"We had some outstanding performances from both the forwards and backs, although like last season we are trailling backling match-ups early in the season. We do have a few guys coming back in from injury over the next few weeks and until them we'll mix it up a bit."

Malcolm singled out both blindside and open flankers Corban Warren and George Forster for special praise while halback Chris Ferguson also gained a mention.

"Warren and Forster had great games. In fact, Warren was named Player of the Day. Chris Ferguson, who is still at school at St Dominic's, was very nearly named our Player of the Day.

"Prop Blade Jones, who is still at Rangtikei College and Bobby Lambert at No8 also had real good games. They are both real go forward guys who are also strong on defence."
Saturday's win made it two from two this season after Metro demolished Old Boys Marist 72-12 the previous weekend.

Metro play a home match at Spriggens Park on Good Friday against Feilding Old Boys' Oroua with kick-off set form 1pm.