Vipers Down MSP Green
- 21 April 2012
- Petone 85kg Vipers vs Marist St Pats
- WIN, 18-13
We were “lucky” enough to have MSP Greens as our first competition game of the season – we all know that no matter the team, MSP is always a tough competitor to face. MSP definitely brought their game and it’s therefore no surprise that it was a hard but good game.
At halftime, the score was 10 all. But by full-time the Petone VIPERs had pulled into the lead to win 18-13. The final score is reflective of a good effort by both teams - that said, the VIPERs put in an impressive and consistent performance for this game. Whatever the Greens threw at us, we matched.
Highlights of the first-half:
MSP scored their first (converted) try within the first 5 minutes. The VIPERs took this hit and responded with their own first try not long afterwards – Second-five Tom Field made an outstanding 15 metre break, stepping and fending off MSP players, to score. First-five Barghy (Andrew Bargh) converted the try to even out the game score.
The forwards had a solid first half, with Blindside: “PT” (Nick Partridge), Tighthead-prop: Dan Eastwood, Hooker: Koro (Sean Maxwell) and Lock: Jimmy Aitkinson making some impressive breaks and gaining some much needed ground for the team. Loose-head prop: “Sleeze” (Andrew McLean), Lock: James Reece-Thomas, Openside: Dave Roche, and Number-eight: Lucas Gammie added to this success with their consistent defence and support.
The backs put forward a high workrate and connected well as a unit throughout the game, with First-five: Barghy, Second-five: Tom Field (player of the day) and Centre: Damian Austin coordinating tightly together to create a solid base of defence and attack play. Fullback: Layton O’Connor, and Wingers: Crazy (Chris Hart) and Tian Cao added to this success, making a number of outstanding breaks down the sideline. Half-back: Hamish Carter centred the team, calling the shots to ensure our success in scrums, mauls, and rucks.
Highlights of the second half:
The VIPERs second try was scored by Number-eight: Nano (Higano Perez) in a classic forwards try – a 10 metre storming run followed by a dive across the line. This was converted by First-five: Barghy, who also converted two penalty goals to solidify the teams winning final score.
With some “fresh legs”, the forwards maintained their momentum with Props: Cliff Barr and JC (Tim Clode) clicking-in to continue the frontrows successful scrum and ruck play; Blindside: Mikey (Mike Etheridge), Openside: Pumba (Josh Joseph), and Number-eight: Nano upping the tempo in our defence play to ensure that MSP didn’t get a chance to score in the second half.
The backs continued with their outstanding play from the first-half. Wingers: Bryce Williams and Tom Misikea were added to the mix and provided further defence support across the backline.
Final comment:
We are reaping the benefits of our efforts at training. Well done guys – lets keep our passion, commitment, and hard work going. In addition to our fantastic game play, I am proud to say that this is the second game where we have not received any yellow/red cards, and that we also received 20/20 Griffiths Memorial Competition points for this game.
Special thanks to our captain, Damian Austin, for his efforts on the field today.
As a team we are showing that we’re up for the challenge, so bring on next week’s game!
