Defence was the backbone of the Roncalli Aoraki First XV's win against Mid Canterbury Combined in a 15-10 performance that showed courage and total commitment in Ashburton.

The prospect of a second win for the season perhaps created pressure for the team as they started well, implementing the game plan to almost perfection, with the Fijian connection of Sebastian Monua and Luke Butinaseva breaking the line consistently and the rampant Roncalli Aoraki forwards led by Jack Pratt maintaining possession, with pace and precision. 

However it was left to Hayden Kerr to trouble the scorers in the first 10 minutes with a penalty. With the continually recycled ball, William Johnson and Lian Brown (Waimate HS) pierced further holes in the Mid Canterbury defence giving the feeling it was inevitable that Roncalli Aoraki would cross the line, but the final sequences lacked support. Despite the opportunities created, a couple of Mid Canterbury excursions into the Roncalli Aoraki 22 and some lapses in concentration saw two unconverted tries scored for the home team.

These were against the run of play and just before half time, Roncalli put pressure into points. The Roncalli scrum, anchored by a stout Ryan Brosnahan in the front row, more than held their own and provided a fantastic platform for a set move. The pacey Jackson Hicks-Sandri showed his attacking quality,  entering the line from depth to score out wide after his team mates had quickly recycled the ball from the previous ruck. The deadly boot of Hayden Kerr converted and at half time it was locked up at 10 all.

The second half proved to be an arm wrestle, with a powerful cross wind making territory hard to gain with tactical kicking. Mid Canterbury had found their rhythm and began attacking with more accuracy to retain possession, but total team commitment to the tackle was holding them at bay. It was a piece of vision and insight that saw first five Hayden Kerr find space with a deft cross field kick. The uncertain fullback let it bounce, with the impressive player of the day Lian Brown on hand to collect a fortuitousness bounce, in the clear with 60 metres to run. Using a powerful fend to dismiss the cover defence, Brown crashed over with the reliable Angus Cook (who typified the team's total commitment in his 60 metre support line for Brown) not required.

With the try unconverted, the remaining 15 minutes created nervous times for Roncalli Aoraki, the pendulum of penalty decisions swinging towards the home team as the error rate increased. However accuracy in the one on one tackles and commitment to cover defence identified this as team perhaps different from the year before, and across the park players were resolute.

Adam Currie was passionate and committed, relishing his start at lock, committing his body to contact and a 40 metre run to remember. The bench all added something extra making this a complete team performance, showing that the competition for places on the field of play and in the starting 15 is getting the best out of players.

Despite the standings, Roncalli Aoraki will go into the traditional fixture against Timaru Boys High as underdogs and will need to make sure that they can convert their attack to compliment their committed defence. The game is at 1:30pm this Saturday at School Park.