Wanganui ease past Hutt Valley

The Wanganui High School first XV sent the Hutt Valley High School boys packing after a dominant 23-0 win on home turf yesterday.

The home side scored three unanswered tries, two conversions and a penalty against a team previously unbeaten this season in the Madison Cup - the trophy up for grabs in the Wellington secondary schools competition.

WHS coach Darryl Malcolm said all they knew about the visitors was that they had big forwards and were undefeated in their league.

"This is the first time we've met and all we knew was they had big forwards and were unbeaten, so that's what we focused on and our forwards really stepped up," Malcolm said.

Player of the day for WHS was Malcolm's son Sam, who did an excellent job marshalling the troops from halfback and kicking all three goals.

He even received praise from Hutt Valley co-coach Chris Osborne.

"For me, he was the best on the paddock," Osborne said early in the first half.

WHS captain and openside flanker Scott Bowater received praise from his coach.

"While Sam was player of the day, Scott led just like Richie McCaw and scored the final try of the match.

"We had four of the five Wanganui players in the Manawatu academy squad on the field for us today and they all stepped up," Malcolm said.

The Hutt Valley first XV included two Hurricanes development training squad members - winger Cameron Smith and openside flanker Victor Knight.

First to dot down for WHS was second-five Terau Wirihana in the first 10 minutes, quickly followed by a try from fullback Taylor Kirkwood, who added an extra man into the backline wide out.

The WHS lads also had the added incentive of playing a match dedicated to former teacher and dean Vanda Buttars, who died on Saturday. A haka was also performed in her memory before the match.

Meanwhile, Wanganui Collegiate won its fourth match in a row, beating Hawera High School 34-3 yesterday.

The hosts scored six tries to none and added two conversions, while the visitors managed just one penalty.

Collegiate coach Guy Lennox gave all seven reserves a run after being up 24-0 early in the game.

"We were lucky enough to use the game as a chance to give a few of the second XV players a run and while the game did get a bit out of shape, we still managed to score two unanswered tries in the second half," Lennox said.

Fullback Charlie Robson scored three tries, while winger Jonty Nesbit, first-five Andre Alert and hooker Nick Cave scored one each.

"We have a couple of tough ones coming up against St Peter's in Hamilton on Saturday and Feilding next week." Lennox said. "It's just a matter of keeping the bodies in one piece from here on in."