Second half scare for Metro

Storming runs like this earned St Johns Club Whanganui Metro No8 Brayden Maua Player of the Day against Old Boys Marist at Spriggens Park on Saturday.

A SCARE was thrown into the St Johns Club Whanganui Metro camp at the weekend when the lads produced a horror second half against Old Boys Marist on home turf at Spriggens Park.

The Metro colts completely dominated in the first spell to produce a 31-3 lead at halftime, but at the sound of the final whistle, the Manawatu side had closed the gap to just 10 points.

While the 34-24 final score was a reasonable buffer in the first match of round two in the Manawatu McDonald's Colts division competition, the camp was not satisfied with the performance.

With both coaches, Darryl Malcolm and Carl Gibson, away watching the NZ Maori v Lions match, it was left to Metro manager Chris Friedel to run the ship.

"We started extremely well, but got a bit of a shake-up in the second spell. It was a very poor second half," Friedel said.

"It was a very different Marist side than we have been used to. You have to remember teams have been reduced to five from eight for round two in this competition. The positives for us were that we put points on the board early with tries coming from winger Cajun Teki Botica and fullback James Dorgan.

"When wingers and fullbacks are scoring tries, it tells a lot about a game, but we made changes at the break and lost a bit of continuity, while Marist picked up their game.

"Fortunately we managed to hold on for a 10-point win, but there are some lessons to learn. Chucking the ball away for a start doesn't help."

Friedel singled out No8 Brayden Maua for special mention.

"Brayden was named Player of the Day for the way he cleared out rucks and the storming runs he made to break the advantage line. Our version of the Barrett brothers, the Houltham boys, also had very good games. Kelly at halfback, Tyrone at first five and Kalib at second five controlled the match well."

Metro play Feilding in an away fixture this Saturday