Second Saturday of Term 3

1st XV vs Rangiora HS won 74-0

This was the last game in pool play before next week’s semi-finals. Our number one field was a very heavy track but despite these conditions, our team played some attractive rugby and the tries came at regular intervals. Indeed, wing Ben Trillo knocked up a hat trick in under 25 minutes.

Half time: 45-0 to SBC

The second half was similar with the team scoring some sound team tries. When our team kept its shape, Rangiora had difficulty countering our attack. Given the challenging conditions, the team did well to win by such a significant margin. It was also satisfying to see our team’s defensive systems keep the opposition scoreless.

Full time 74 -0 to SBC

Tries: Ben Trillo 3, Mitch Pile 3, Cameron Rawlings 3, Herewini Rata McLeod, Andre Sula, Christian Ioane. Conversions: Ben Trillo 6, Josh Cusin 1.

Two players earned played their first cap game for the 1st XV. Dylan Butler and Harrison Friend both looked very capable.

The Billy Harmon MVP award was presented to full back Cameron Rawlings. His big left foot kick punished the opposition and he was deadly on attack. One of his three tries was arguably the best individual try of the game in which he carved through almost the entire opposition team.

The Origin Award went to three loyal servants of the team. Prop Calad Twohig has bounced back from injury to be a force off the bench. Conor Crosbie was strong at centre and Josh Cusin showed some deft touches at 1st 5/8.

Next Saturday sees the 1st XV play St Thomas’ in an away semi-final. The team is confident that they have improved significantly since they lost to St Thomas in the first pool game of the season.

2nd XV vs CC 2nd XV won 22-17

After all the rain and mud of the past few weeks it was great to get a game in, and on a very dry field to boot. It has been a challenging two weeks preparing for play, having not played in a month, whilst being limited in how and where we train. We knew it was critical to get off to a strong start as, in all likelihood, our opponent likewise would have experienced similar challenges. However, it was our opponents who started well and got close to scoring on more than one occasion early. Some scrambling defence held them out and, though we had the rough side of possession and territory, it was 0-0 after the first quarter. With about 10 minutes to the break Harry Friend dotted down to make it 7-0. But a poor kickoff receipt helped Christ's get back into our zone and take 3 points. 7-3 was the halftime score and four players left at that time for 1st XV duties.There was some better intent from all carriers in the second half which asked much more questions of the opposition defence. Though the shape we like to play never really materialized, and support play in the clean out was lacking, we were able to keep ahead of a resurgent Christ's College for the remainder of the game. Sam Keno kicked a superb 40m penalty for us, and wingers Ollie Monks and Rheubyn Hunter both scored on their respectively wings. We looked very rusty and lacking in urgency today. However, it is a sign of a strong team that can play comparatively average yet still take the points for the win. With two rounds until playoffs it is critical the team begins playing something close to our best. 

3rd XV vs SBHS 2nd XV lost 10-34

Our players came up against the unbeaten SBHS team which probably should be in the next division up. We had had a disrupted build up with plenty of sickness in the team however it was great to have some players back after injuries and sickness. Shirley started well and used their strong kicking game to pin St Bede's back inside their own half. We were reduced to defending our line and when we did have possession errors stopped us from building pressure in their half. The Shirley backs showed good pace out wide and scored 3 tries. However towards the end of the first half our team built some pressure on the opponents line and Alex Tino finished a good team try. The halftime score was 17 to 5. The second half began with Shirley scoring out wide again as they continued to move the ball quickly through their backs when they had possession in our half. They scored 2 further tries to take a good lead in the game. St Bede's lifted their game and began to dominate the last quarter with increasing intensity in their tackles and the forwards upping their workload. Noah Allison scored a good try after a long run and the final score was 34 to 10 in favour of Shirley. Tries: Alex Tino, Noah Allison. Back of the day: Caleb Stevens Forward of the day: Flynn Martin Player of the day: Alex Milnes 

4th XV vs Lyttelton U18 lost 0-19

The score doesn’t reflect a very physical battle in wet conditions at the Port. A couple of late tries to Lyttelton blew the score out but up to that point there had not been much between the two teams. Lyttelton applied the early pressure and apart from a couple of break outs we were forced to defend for much of the first half.-Lyttelton hammered away with their strong ball runners but we defended well and only conceded the one try. In the second half the Fourths took it to Lyttelton and did most of the attacking. We were held up over the line on a number of occasions and basic mistakes saw us blow some other chances. In the end we just lacked the finesse to finish off our opportunities. In the backs Finn O’Donnell was his usual busy self ,running with determination and defending stoutly. Lachie Baird controlled the mid field and was also game in defence while Joey Pawson directed play well in the second half. Up front Will McIntyre was prominent at the break down and turned over a few balls while Nick Scully was lively about the field and made some good tackles. We could not fault the effort of the team on the day but our execution did not quite match the effort.

U75kgs Black vs CBHS U75kgs Blue lost 10-17

The weather really did play a part in this game, with it raining on and off throughout the game, making handling challenging for both teams.

The first half was a tight affair with St Bede's having an early effort stopped on the goal line. This was followed up with a Boys' High player being yellow carded for a high tackle. This should have been a great opportunity for Bede's to put more pressure on the Boys' High team but we could not seem to get any consistent play and so we spent a lot of time in our own half. When we did string together some good play, we would give away penalties and therefore the momentum. The first half ended scoreless.

With the opportunity to reset at half time the boys came out firing. The forwards started to hit the line tight into the rucks and this gave them great gains, after a series of aggressive straight runs Mitchell Murtha crashed over for the first score (5-0). Sadly, Boys' High hit back quickly as we gave away a penalty in front of our posts (5-3).

The boys were playing better and were more aggressive in attack, unfortunately the penalties kept taking the initiative away from us as well as handling errors due to the damp conditions. Boys' High were more consistent with ball in hand and this paid off well with their first try (5-10). When we focused on retaining the ball, we looked dangerous, we were able to put together another series of short carries with quick recycling, Luke Norton scored off this. (10-10).

As the game came to an end more penalties against us forced us back into our 22, from this the Boys' High Team scored under the post (10-17) and closed out the game.

Forward of the day – Dominic Knill   Back of the Day – Conner McKey, General POD – Luke Norton.

U75kgs Red vs CBHS U75kgs Black won 27-26

The U75kg Red team went into their match against CBHS after a lengthy break having last played back in June. It was very much a clichéd game of two halves and a match in which the team really had to dig deep to get a result.

In the first half with the rain managing to hold off St Bede’s got off to a fast start with the team playing well. A great line break by Harvey Scott and a well timed pass led to Harry Croy showing good pace to finish in the corner. In the dry conditions the back line was looking very dangerous and shortly after the first try Connor Stewart scored in the corner. Later a well worked move off a lineout saw Max Hammett score under the posts and the team stretch out to a 17-0 lead. However poor ball security off the kick off saw Boys’ High hit back with a try in the corner. There was some further good play from Bede’s with Finn Parkyn defending strongly, winning a lot of important turnover ball and a counter attack saw Connor Stewart sneak in the corner with an outstanding acrobatic finish to leave the halftime score at 22-7.

The second half began well with Connor Stewart gathering a kick and completing his hat-trick with a very good individual score and giving Bede’s a 27-7 lead. However, with the weather changing Bede’s struggled to adapt to the deteriorating conditions and began to turnover a lot of ball and slip off first up tackles. Boys’ High got some momentum and were regularly getting over the gain line through strong running up the middle and around the rucks. CBHS managed to score 3 converted tries to bring the score to 27-26. Bede’s were still trying to play rugby but were guilty of trying to force things and passes were not sticking in the tricky handling conditions. In the final quarter the reintroduction of Fraser Brown brought some direction with his strong running down in the middle of the field and this helped to relieve pressure. A frantic end with Bede’s conceding numerous penalties meant some great goal line defence was required with Ronan Davidson, Gus Knutson and Elijah Butts really standing up when needed. The match ended with Bede’s holding Boys’ High up over the try line and a very relieved team were glad to hear the final whistle and sneak the 1 point win.

U15 White vs CC U15 "B" won 31-26

A very mild morning and St Bede's U15 White lined up against Christ's College. After cancellations last week and the holidays it was a few weeks since the boys had fronted up.

A lack of game time and complacency for a team that was low on the table saw some basic mistakes, poor line speed and St Bede's arriving at the ruck 3 or 4 seconds after the tackle. College were able to push over securing the ball at will and then kicking into space with some great tries. The half time score St Bedes 0 College 19.There were two half time speeches from the captain and of the day and the coach. One repeatable in polite society the other not so much. Instructions to lift intensity and to always look for your next job, assert dominance in the rucks and tackles was inspiring.The boys shook off the cobwebs and started to dig in to the job at hand. 17 minutes left on the clock and the scores were levelled. The last quarter was intense with the Bede's boys showing character beyond their years.5 minutes to go and the Bede's team were in the opposition 22 then College broke out to score. Bede's showed great composure securing the ball and scoring two unanswered tries. The whistle blew with Bede's again in the opposition 22. Finishing 31 points to 26 ahead. A roller coaster of a game with fans and players equally exhausted. One bunch from physical activity the other from excitement, drama and a rollercoaster ride. Well done boys.

U15 Blue vs CBHS U15 "Gold" won 24-22

U15 Red vs SBHS U15 lost 7-34

After a five-week break the boys were fizzing to finally get some footy in. Bede's started well with some good phase play. Only some strong defence from Shirley and the odd wee error prevented Bedes opening the scoring before Shirley countered with a penalty goal. This seemed to give Shirley a bit of momentum and with their first five clearing well they started to get more territory. Pressure on Bede's line saw them over for the first converted try. The next period was spent testing each other out. Bedes put real pressure on their lineout with Lachie Earl being a real threat in his first game back but Shirley were countering well with some big defence around the ruck fringes and real line speed on defence out wide. The heavy pitch also wasn’t making it easy to get the front foot ball that suits Bedes’ style of play. Some excellent scramble defence by Charlie Applegarth and Max Morris prevented a likely score until Shirley crossed again to make the score 15 – 0. A promising attack by Bede\s saw a likely score towards the left hand corner. Unfortunately some offside play was missed and with Bedes penalized at the breakdown, Shirley were able to clear and then make a break of their own. A resultant defence infringement allowed Shirley to score a penalty try and take a 22 – 0 halftime lead.

Second half saw plenty of endeavour by Bede's but far too many errors lead to turning the ball over so they weren’t able to apply the consistent pressure needed. There were some promising breaks with the likes of Ngakau Nixon and Reuben Ngariki making plenty of yards. Bede's just weren’t able to quite finish with perhaps the five-week break leading to a lack of cohesion and the high error rate. A bit of catch up footy mid-half allowed Shirley to increase their lead before Reuben Ngariki was able to finish with a spectacular try to finally get Bedes on the board. Overall not the performance the boys were after to send Mr Ryan off to the Middle East but pleasing to see a good start and a strong finish. Plenty learnt and plenty to work on before what is likely to be another encounter with Shirley in semi-finals time next week.

A big thanks to Mr Ryan for all his work with the team and we wish him all the best for the future.

U15 Black vs Merivale Papanui U15 won 40-26

On Saturday we played Merivale Papanui u15. After having 4 weeks of rugby due to weather conditions and the holidays the boys were fizzing to get back into playing some rugby. They started of really well playing into our structure and putting some phases together which lead to some good team tries and gave us quite a big lead early in the game. However in the middle third of the game we let Merivale Papanui back into the game, this was probably due to lack of game fitness after having 4 weeks off. The boys managed to dig in and finish the game well which was really pleasing getting the win 40-26.

U14 Davidson vs Merivale Papanui U14 won 36-15

U14 Davidson took on a trying Merivale-Papanui team who were looking to beat us after our previous encounter at the start of the season. We raced out to a 10 nil start and then Merivale got one back to make it 10-5. The boys then turned it on going out to a 29-10 lead and more or less putting the game out of touch for Merivale-Papanui with the final score being 36-15. Our defence was very good as for long periods in the second half they were camped in our 22. Our discipline started to let us down in the last 1/4 though and we conceded several penalties. Something our coaches will address at training next week. That aside, our team should be very happy with such a good win after no trainings or games for 5 weeks!! Well done team.

U14 Freeman vs STC U14 "Red" 54-22

With only 15 players available to play the boys knew that would be a tough game for them ahead, but they pushed through. A few minutes after kick off, prop Jeonghu sent it over the try line to take us into the lead and a great kick from Rau got us up to 7-0. With some great line speed and attack from the backs, Kairu was able to get through and score with Rau adding the conversion to get us to 12-0. Rau and Hunter scored some great tries then after. The score at half time was 26-10. Jeonghu started the next half with another great try. With some great Defensive work from the forwards, the team was able to keep the ball in hand the majority of the second half. Although tired, the boys carried on scoring 3 tries in a row, them being: Rupeni, James Allison and Coll with all being converted by Rau. The end score was 54-22 and the boys had some well deserved celebrations.

Thank you to Kyle and Simon for helping out.

Tries: Jeonghu Oh (2), Rau Kumeroa (1), Kairu Byers (1), Hunter McKeown (1), Rupeni Qoroya (1), James Allison (1), Coll Thomson (1). Conversions: Rau Kumeroa (7)

U14 Dunne vs CC U14 "B" won 70-10

U14 Dunne this week played Christ College U14 B at Hagley Park. The game was played in great conditions which allowed some open rugby to be played. With the largest squad available for the season so far, Bede's started strongly and maintained possession early to score through Lui Vaipulu in the 4th minute. College then got into the game and put up some stiff defence.

College could not hold out Dunne's progress winning the collision with Tomas Gallagher diving in for a try followed shortly after by Ethan O'Donavan who had a good all round game. First half ending 20- 5.Second half opened with Bedes starting strong and building to a try to Lui converted by a good kick from Jack Hislop who defended well all game at 15. College would break through for a well constructed try to finish their scoring for the day. Soon after Joel Clark would sustain a wrist injury at half back where he had been directing traffic very well all game. Stern words from captain Cohan Clemence and a lift from Bede's would change the remainder of the game to one way traffic from a dominant Dunne team to close out the game 70-10. Bedean of the week went to Thomas Gallagher at 6 and 8. Thomas had a very busy game scoring two tries and converting one. Good lineouts with a couple of steals against the throw.Thank you to our sponsor Hunter Civil for our sharp training jackets.

U55kgs vs Christ's College U55kgs lost 17-37

(1) The last game for our team was in June - Holidays and rain soaked fields have stopped our men from lacing up their boots and getting out to play some rugby for 5 weeks. Perfect overhead conditions and a muddlicious ground made for a very evenly matched game against Christ's College. We let them in early for two tries but then we fought back hard with some silky tries, Kobi dotted down in the corner after some slick team work, industrious lock Joseph Boyce then followed up 3min later with another Bede's try using a long reaching arm to dot down. Max Boyle converts to put us in the lead 12-10. Then it was a real arm wrestle they score again and then big Jimmy Jackson knocks down the defence like bowling pins and scores to lock it up 17-all.Then they score just before half time 17-22. The second half was a battle, no side giving an inch for 20 minutes...Rocco covered in blood demonstrating the physicality and passion, Joe O'Kane chipping over the defensive line and regathering, Mathew tackling anything that moved. Eventually we submitted to a couple of late tries but not through lack of effort. Final score 17-37 Player of the day was our Mo'unga like maestro Joe O'Kane and The tackling machine was open side flanker Mathew Isherwood. See you at training Monday men, forwards we need to work a little more on our ball control at ruck time, and know when to keep our hands out.Backs we need to harness our ability to run straight and to put the players on the outside into space. Parents thanks for your support and I hope the vehicles clean up okay, Rugby is muddy awesome!  (Stephen Fleck)

(2) After a few weeks off, the boys were keen to get back into against rivals Christ's College. After Christ got off a good start, St Bede’s struck back early. Going back and forth in the first half, Christ were up 22-17 at halftime. After defending our line for a sustained period, College got the best of us, running in a few late tries to win 37-17. A few mentions to Joe O’Kane who was our man of the match. Joe was busy around the field showing great energy throughout the game. Matthew Isherwood also played outstanding with his countless tackles and barnstorming runs. Thank you to Aileen and Stephen and our sponsors for making this season so easy and smooth for us coaches. (Ben O'Donovan)