Hero photograph
OBHS v Marist Ashgrove School 
 

Rugby Season Starts

Mark Alderton —

On Tuesday 9th April Otago Boys' 2nd and 3rd XV played host to Marist Ashgrove School from Brisbane.

These fixtures provided a valuable opportunity for all teams and players involved to get some much needed game time prior to the start of the competitive season in Term 2.

It was great to see two afternoon fixtures taking place on Littlebourne on a warm and sunny evening with the 3rd XV playing Marist 2nd XV in a hard fought encounter in the early match. While both teams attempted to play the game at pace it was clear that the Marist boys had spent a bit more time together as a unit and thus displayed superior continuity and creativity to earn a 31-5 victory. This fixture was played in great spirt with all boys involved relishing the opportunity to play some international competition.

The late fixture was played out between our 2nd XV and Marist 1st XV. This proved to be a very physical game and a massive step up in intensity for many of the 2nd XV players who had not played at this level before. Marist were able to dominate the break down and set piece in the first half and take a 14 – 0 lead into the first half. The second half had the OBHS pack looking to make camp in the gymnasium corner of the field and this yielded success with two second half tries and a number of opportunities created that were not finished off. However, a late try to Marist killed off the comeback and the final score finished 19 – 10 to Marist.