7 wins 6 losses

1st XV won 29-7 vs Marlborough BC

The 1st XV hosted Marlborough Boys’ College on Saturday. It was a Cap game for outside back, Amby Pulega. There were multiple line breaks from both teams but the St Bede’s scramble-defence limited the visitors to a single try. The half time score was 15-7 in our favour. The continued strong defence kept Marlborough scoreless in the second half while we scored two converted tries. The full time score was 29-7. It was satisfying to secure a bonus point win by scoring 4 tries. The team remains at the top of the points table with one game left in pool play. The Man-of-the-Match award went to Jackson Wright who is the lynch pin of the backline and one of the best defenders in the team.

Tries: Mason Allison, Cameron Rawlings, Suliasi Faiva and Tanner Stowers-Smith. Conversions: Isaac Hutchinson 3. Penalties: Isaac Hutchinson 1.

2nd XV lost 14-19 to CBHS 3rd XV

A very disappointing result today. Just the second loss of the season, and not a nice way to begin the lead-up to finals. Unfortunately the team was much too slow to start playing anywhere near our best. CBHS got good territory and possession early and went up 5-0 in the first 10 minutes. More average play saw the score remain there until we scored a try ourselves, converting to lead by 2. However, more errors saw CBHS straight back into good attacking positions and, on the stroke of halftime, they succeeded in converting a try from a lineout drive. 7-12 at the half. The second half started dreadfully with CBHS able to use a fresh breeze to pin us in our own zone. Though some good work was put in to keep them out, an inability to get out of our half led to a pressured pass going to ground and CBHS getting a grubber through try. 7-19.This was the point, about 15 minutes into the second half, where it seemed we came out of our daze and started playing with some urgency. The final 20 minutes saw us up in territory and possession. However, though over the line twice, we were unable to finish some prime scoring opportunities and so the game slipped away. We did finally score in the final minutes and gave CBHS a real scare where we could have snatched the game with an overtime try, but we could not quite get there. With just two games remaining before finals, the team will be looking to bounce away from this match and be ready to build momentum next week. A good strong start will be critical. 

3rd XV won 36-10 vs SBHS 2nd XV 

https://hail.to/st-bedes-college/article/u6Hrj4D

4th XV lost 26-38 to Merivale-Papanui U18

An important match for both teams as the round robin competition draws near to a close. It was the Merivale team who took their chances the better and were deserving winners. The Fourths had a poor 10 minutes before half time and let their opponents get away on them. Although they came back well in the second half, the damage had been done and the gap was too large to overhaul. Once again silly mistakes and basic errors were the Fourths downfall and they will have to be more clinical if they are going to challenge the leaders in this competition. Highlights were 3 tries for Will Thwaites and some great tackling from Dylan Butler in the backs and in the forwards Sacha Uhrbom had his usual full-energy game and Joe Groters added plenty of spark in the second half.

U75kgs "Red" won 55-15 vs CC U75kgs 

Given that this was the first game after the two-week break, the U75kg red team were worried about rustiness going into the match. The team, however, managed to produce one of their best first half performances of the season.

The game began in perfect manner with St Bede’s claiming the kick off, then playing with patience and structure to work their way up the field until Harvey Scott broke through the defence to score. St Bede’s dominated possession with the forwards running well repeatedly getting over the gain line and providing the backs with good ball. This led to two further tries for Charlie Coakley and Byron Geer. Christ’s College then rallied scoring a well worked try to bring the score to 15-5. The remainder of the half, however, belonged to St Bede’s who played some good rugby with player of the day Elijah Butts prominent with his work rate. Tries kept coming with Matthew Mun, Lachie Baird, Harvey Scott and Charlie Coakley all scoring to build a commanding 43-5 halftime lead.

In the second half Christ’s College came back strongly and St Bede’s struggled to maintain the structure and intensity that they showed in the first half. It was well into the half before St Bede’s were able to build a score with Harvey Scott crossing to complete a hat trick. Christ’s College were able to score two tries in a much more even half but Ben O’Kane was able to sneak over for another Bede’s score. The team had to reshuffle the backline with Charlie Challies-Gibb going off concussed and Liam Nind getting a nasty shoulder injury, but they were able to close out the game. The match ended with a 55-15 win for St Bede’s which sets them up well for a rematch with Boys’ High next weekend.

U75kgs "Black" lost 12-33 vs CBHS U75kgs "Blue"

St Bede's went into the first game back after the School Holiday break against the unbeaten CBHS Blue team hoping to get one over them after a narrow loss in the last game against them. With a slow start from St Bede's a well drilled CBHS team were able to capitalise on good possession and territory and cross for the first try. The early stages were dominated by CBHS and their defensive line was hard to break down. With some weak tackling by St Bede's, CBHS were able to cross for a further two tries to put them out to a 19 – 0 lead after 20 minutes.

We then managed to gain good possession and the forwards were able to get into their stride and were able to apply some good pressure and threatened the tight CBHS defence a number of times. We finally managed to cross for our first try after a slick backline move from a set piece that put Rheubyn Hunter over.

In the second half we were strong and fully committed and midway through Rheubyn Hunter latched onto a CBHS pass to grab the intercept and run the length of the field to score which put us right back in the game at 19 –12. With a strong wind behind CBHS, it proved difficult for us to get out of our own half and they managed to gain control of the game with this and were able to cross for two late tries. The St Bede's tackling certainly stepped up in the second half and they worked well as a team to put in some strong defensive work which will keep them ready for a strong start next week.

U65kgs won 43-12 vs CBHS U65kgs

From the kick off the St Bede's boys looked keen to take the game to Boys' High. The forwards were running strong and direct with the ball being quickly recycled. This created St Bede's first opportunity which was taken by Joey Pawson.

With the ball in hand the St Bede's boys looked more confident and determined than the Boys' High team. Shortly after the first try St Bede's were in again after a lovely kick by Joey Pawson into the Boys' High 22, which gave St Bede's a great attacking platform which saw Luke Norton score under the posts.

St Bede's continued to pressure the Boys' High team back line when they did not have the ball with some text booking tacking which forced a number of turn overs for the St Bede's team. St Bede's scored 2 further tries in the first half, first through Mitchel Murtha after a series of strong runs by the forwards, the second was a wonderful back move that saw Joey Pawson pass a short ball to a Harry Croy who took a lovely line to score.

The only blemish on a great first half was the number of penalties that the St Bede's boys conceded.

Into the second half Billy Lewis scored early, one of his two tries that he got. The St Bede's team kept the Boys' High team pinned in their half for most of the second half. In addition to Billy’s tries, Alfie Barclay also touched down. In the last 10 minutes of the game the play became more scrappy and this allowed Boys' High to touch down twice. Final Score 43 -12 to St Bede's.

U15 "Red" won 22-21 vs CC U15 "A"

U15 "Black" lost 0-62 vs Shirley BHS U16 "A"

Bede's came up against a strong Shirley "A" team that had recently come down from section 1 (which doesn't make sense). Prior to the holidays, Bede's had lost their captain and key back Connor to injury and he was very much missed against the Shirley team who were bigger and faster, especially in the backs. Early on in the game the teams were pretty even with several Bede's lads tacking non stop and making a couple of good line breaks. However, Shirley - who were getting away with plenty of ruck indiscretions - gradually took control in the backs and scored a number of tries to lead 29 to nil at the half. Bede's started well in the second half especially in the forwards and with excellent tackling kept the score down until the last quarter when Shirley scored a number of tries. Bede's were unable to hold the ball for enough phases to really build pressure on the Shirley line. On a positive note the Bede’s forwards competed very well throughout and showed great improvement in the rucks, something that they had worked on at practices. The backs worked hard, passed well at times and kept on tackling.
Forward of the day: Dan Parkin
Back of the day: Kyle Peterson
Player of the day: Flynn Martin 

U14 "Red" won 55-31 vs CC U14 "A"

U14 "Black" vs CBHS U14 "Blue" lost 14-67 

Playing CBHS Blue, the section leader, at home on Club Day was always going to be a challenge that the boys were up for. We started well and with better body position at the ruck than our previous game we were able to hold our own with the scores in deadlock for the first 10 minutes. From there Boys' High started to dominate at both ruck and set-piece and soon ran in a couple of tries. Their defence was sound out wide and we had difficulty getting in behind their first line of defence and unfortunately we didn’t make full use of the stiff Nor-easter blowing at our backs. Our own defence was sound initially with Bruno Dooley and Carter Devlin particularly strong on the tackle. However the sheer weight of possession that Boys' High had meant a few holes started to appear and they were able to run in several more tries going into the break leading 36 – 0.

The second half saw a turnover by us and well worked ball saw Harry Gorman in space down the right flank before scoring under the posts with Joel Harris converting. A quick reply by Boys' High though and any comeback was going to be difficult into wind. The boys toiled well in the second half and some decisive running by Luke Spanjer up the middle and better control of the ball at ruck time meant the contest was much more even with Boys' High kicking game with the wind at their backs probably the only real difference. We unfortunately lost Harrison Smith and Max Albers-White to shoulder injuries but pleasingly were able to have the final say with Flynn Lawton crashing over in his comeback game from injury after a turnover by Gethin Blair.

Whilst not the result we want the boys will be stronger for the lessons learnt against a well drilled Boys' High team. We’ll be looking to bounce back next week after putting in some work on winning and keeping that ball!

Forward of the Day - Archie for his work at the breakdown

Back of the Day - Harry for his defence and committing defenders on attack

U14 "White" lost 17-40 vs Shirley BHS U14 "B"

St Bede's U14 White were hosted by Shirley Boys' on Saturday in what tuned-out to be a hard fought but entertaining match.

It was a very bright start from St Bede's who were playing at pace with the backs using the entire width of the field. Some good offloading in the tackle combined with some straight running from both backs and forwards saw St Bede's score the first try of the match after about 5 minutes of play. It didn’t take long for Shirley Boys' to hit back with a try under the posts. The conversion brought the score to 7-5 in favour of the hosts. Shirley Boys' started to play with real composure and spent a lot of time on attack however St Bede's defended well for long periods of time and were slightly unlucky to concede another two tries before halftime.

Halftime score 21-5 to Shirley Boys'.

As has often been the case throughout the season, St Bede's started the 2nd half sluggishly and were stung by two quick tries from the opposition. This was always going to make it hard for them to win the game and given the way the half started, a big score looked possible. It was great to see the boys get back into the game from this point on and the forwards really started taking it to the opposition with some straight and powerful running. They were unlucky not to score after a grubber kick just beat the chasing players over the deadball line, but the boys stuck to their task to pick up a well-deserved try. Shirley scored a good backs' try shortly after, however, St Bede's kept going forward and competing which resulted in a determined try to bring the final score to 40-17.

Once again it was a good effort from the boys however lapses in concentration at crucial times proved costly. Concentration needs to be maintained both on attack and defence and there is no doubt this game could have been won if St Bede's had taken their chances on attack when presented and also if the 2nd half had been started better defensively. Well done on a good gutsy effort boys and your efforts will soon be rewarded I am sure.

Player Of The Day: Eddie Price

U55kgs won 38-29 vs Christchurch FC 

Today the U55kgs played the table topping Christchurch team at St Bede's.

This Christchurch team is a well drilled unit and have been unbeaten over numerous seasons prior to this year. The pre match warm up went well, the vibe from the team was excellent and it was obvious from the look on our boys' faces that we had turned up to play today. From the kick off all 15 players got stuck in, they were competitive at the break down, tackling was accurate and the backline passing was crisp. Everything was going well until George Lingard was involved in a violent collision with an opposition player. George immediately went to ground in pain and being the tough player he is, it was obvious he had suffered a serious injury.

George had broken his lower right leg and the game had to be moved to the adjacent field while an ambulance was called.
The boys gathered together in a huddle while the adjacent field was being set up and I could hear our boys saying “let’s do this for George” and it was at this point I knew there was no way we were losing this match.
From that point on, each and every player in the team, gave it everything, playing their hearts out for their injured team mate.
The tries scored, tackles made, rucks cleared and support play executed was a pleasure to watch and this display of rugby today shows exactly what this close knit team are capable of.
Tackler of the day went to James Rapson, who had an outstanding game at fullback. James' tackling today was courageous, his running was strong and he read the game very well.
Player of the day went to Jimmy Ferguson. Jimmy continues to impress week-in and week-out and never has a bad game. But today’s display of rugby was something else, scoring 4 tries and leading his team mates around the field.
A special thanks also goes to Patsy Fowley, Patsy is currently injured but turns up weekly to support his team mates and helps out with the water and running the kicking tee on the field. You can never underestimate how much of a positive effect this has on the team. Well done Patsy, and a great display of team work.
The final score was St Bedes 38- Christchurch 29.
Our thoughts go out to George and hope he has a speedy recovery.