Match Report - Mens, 29/3

Okato Domain was the venue for our 5th game of the round vs Spotswood United. A team with plenty of talent and had beaten us pre-season too. We started well, but mistakes were costing us dearly and then Spotswood sparked into action and scored a long range try to there 12 Louis Bartley -Siena. A hot stepping man with plenty of pace with him and 10 Ethan Reti and no 8 AJ Lemalu we’re tearing our defence to shreds. Jackson Sinclair then scored after an intercept and ran 60 metres to dot down close to the posts with a conversion by him to level 7 all. Rick McKenna scored after a long build up to slice through, with a spectacular dive to make it 14-7 to us. After that Spotswood turned on the magic too. Well worked try’s from long range to take a well deserved 17-14 halftime lead which could of been more but with desperate Coastal defence to keep it to that. Our lineout and scrum were working well with Josh Lord , Jacob Whittle and flanker Luka Cassidy winning quality ball and also making some blistering breaks to make it an exciting half of rugby but with a few headaches on how to gain dominance . Whatever was said at halftime and a few experienced forwards like Jeremy Newell and Dylan Schuler coming on, we slowly got ascendancy. Then Kusi Druana latching onto a poorly directed kick in the 43rd minute to beat 7 or 8 players to a try that he should not have been allowed too but with his power and pace, to finally get us back into the lead 19-14 . Beni Kalin scored after a heap of good lead up work to take us to 24-14. Followed by Gareth Goodin scoring down the right flank to give us breathing space 29-14 . Jeremy Newell was next to score, showing his power and determination in the 65th minute to give us a 36-14 lead, before Thomas Kalin scored a brace of tries both from a fair way out to make the final score 50-17. Our first win of the season. A huge relief after some narrow losses. Full credit must go to all our subs who added plenty when coming on , 1 point went to Kusi, 2 to Luka 3 to our POD Daniel Crowley he just toiled hard all day, tackling hard on numerous occasions and serving our backline well from halfback with at times messy ball. Josh Lord was great to have him again he had some great runs and dominated the line outs and with both hookers Ropata Taylor and Matt Picard running hard and throwing well giving coach Oliver a good problem of having two guys playing well. Harry Foreman turned in a good shift before being replaced by returning injured prop, Andrew Trolove, leaving us concerned as was re-injured again with the same complaint. Dane Hofman injured his ribs and also looked sore after the game. So hope for their speedy return and with Logan Crowley returning from overseas and Cullum Tito , Scott Quinell and Blake Barrett from injury and Liam Hurley also reported to return due to being a god bugger we should be getting better numbers on the roster. Full credit must go to Spotswood, the score flattered us as at halftime there were many a person supporting The Coast, looking a little worried but it turned out to be an exciting game with lots of good tries to both teams it was a lot of fun and very well officiated by ref Cam Stone and his helpers so much appreciated . Also a mention must go to Taranaki prop Donald Brighouse who normally fronts for NPOB but answered an SOS and said he would help out to make the game happen. After Spotty had to default 7 days earlier which was no joy to anyone but a real problem in rugby player numbers in a lot of clubs. Off to Clifton next week...not an easy assignment but one the boys will be up for . #RideTheWave