SPORTS COVERAGE Collingwood come back to bite Tākaka

The Golden Bay/Motueka indoor bowls team won the Masters final in Nelson last weekend. They drew against Marlborough and won against Nelson and West Coast teams. They now proceed to Wellington to play against other NZ teams. Photo: Supplied.

Collingwood win netball battle

Saturday’s much-anticipated derby between Tākaka and Collingwood more than lived up to rugby fans’ high expectations.

With both teams enjoying a good season, pre-match predictions were hard to call. While Collingwood sat a couple of places above their hosts in the Division 2 table, home advantage should never be underestimated.

As it turned out, even making in-match predictions was a big gamble, until perhaps the final few minutes of a contest in which fortunes, the score, and even the weather, fluctuated.

Both sides went into the game with a realistic prospect of a semi-final but they also knew that a loss would severely dent that ambition. Understandably the first exchanges produced few expansive moves before the action ground to a halt following an early injury to a Tākaka player.

In front of an excited crowd of around 400, and with Rec Park bathed in bright sunshine, Tākaka were enjoying the majority of the attacks and opened their account after 11 minutes with a penalty scored by Riley Oakden.

The visitors responded quickly and, following a little inspiration play from captain Ryan McKay, William Curnow breached Tākaka’s defence and grounded the ball over the try line. Brad Goulsbro converted to give Collingwood a fourpoint lead.

It didn’t last long: within minutes of the re-start, Collingwood conceded a penalty in front of the sticks which gifted Riley Oakden an easy kick for three points and took the score to 6-7.

The remainder of the half saw both sides mount promising attacks, but hard tackling and solid defensive organisation meant most came to nought. Occasional errors created opportunities; Collingwood’s line-out, clearly missing the long reach of Will Barham, was below par, and their uncharacteristic lack discipline in defence led to Tākaka scoring a further penalty to snatch the lead on the half-hour mark.

And just before half-time, things got worse for the visitors when Tākaka were awarded a scrum inside the 22-yard line from which Tyler Palmer scored a try, subsequently converted by Riley Oaken to move the score to 16-7.

Buoyed by their advantage, Tākaka continue to dominate at the start of the second half, and the pressure seemed to get to the Collingwood players who conceded yet another penalty after only two minutes, which stretched the home side’s advantage to 19-7.

The visitors must have been sick of the sight of Riley Oaken who had already notched up 14 points, but it was another

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Oakden – Alex – who piled on the hurt with a try on 43 minutes. With Tākaka now leading 24-7, it seemed the game was slipping away from the visitors who then compounded their misery by missing a penalty kick.

But those in the know would never write off the Black and Gold who have a knack of coming from behind. And their fortunes started to turn, along with the weather, when Tākaka’s number 18 received a yellow card and left the team temporarily a man down.

As the temperature dropped, and the rain fell, Collingwood turned the heat up on the home side. With the forwards pressing hard, passing the ball quickly, and playing some flowing rugby, the visitors looked increasingly menacing. While they gained in strength and confidence, they appeared to suck the life out of hosts who were now defending for their lives. But they couldn’t stop the Black and Gold juggernaut and, in a devastating 15-minute spell, Boston Rountree, Brad Goulsbro and skipper Ryan McKay each scored tries, levelling the score at 24-all.

It was now game on, floodlights on, with visitors the more likely to prevail – a prediction that much less of a gamble. And it became a sure bet when the Collingwood skipper grounded a try to give his side a narrow win. Final score: Tākaka 24 v Collingwood 29.

Speaking immediately after the match, Tākaka coach Hamish Hills said the defeat was “tough to take,” but acknowledged the quality of his opponents. “Collingwood have been the benchmark for some time; you’ve got to be good to beat them. When it gets wet they know what to do.”

Collingwood’s coach summed up his side’s performance: “We started well, but stopped taking for a bit,” said Graeme Miller. “We showed spirit and guts and scored some great tries after great build-up.” The win lifts Collingwood into second place in Division 2 giving them a good chance of a semi-final. “It puts us in a great spot,” said Graeme.

Nelson Victory Square provided the appropriate setting for FC Nelson’s win over Golden Bay Stingrays in last Saturday’s Masters Division clash.

The game started with a club record: A mere 15 seconds after kick off, Stingray Chris von Roy stung the hosts with an outrageous strike from 35 yards following some smart buildup play.

One-nil up, the Stingrays were looking sharp – Anju Ejima thwarting Nelson’s attacks and brining their two seven-foot tall strikers down to size. The entire backline looked solid, while Pete van der Meer and Dicky Hayward were owning the midfield. But as the half wore on, Nelson started pushing forward, calling Stingrays’ keeper Phil Smith into action, and they eventually got their reward with a high-quality equaliser.

The second half was dominated by FC Nelson but, despite frequent attacks, they were unable to find the back of Smith’s net – until the 75th minute when an errant handball gifted the home side a penalty which was ruthlessly dispatched.

Final score: FC Nelson 2 v GB Stingrays 1. Roli Muntwyler Player of the Day: Adge Tucker and Mark Shelley.

The result consolidates Nelson’s third place and leaves Stingrays 11 points adrift in fourth, with four games to play. The first of those fixtures kicks off tomorrow at 3pm at the Rec Park against sixth placed Richmond Bogans where spectators are promised a surprise.

Shield Maidens continue winning run

Golden Bay's Shield Maidens continued their hot streak overcoming FC Nelson Wahine at Botanics ground in Nelson. The result sees the Maidens climb to fourth place in the Women's Premiership.

Next up for the Shield Maidens is tomorrow's home tie against Motueka Angels.

Goats “win” as Nelson go AWOL

The Mountain Goats were awarded a 3-0 win and three points after their opponents FC Nelson Loco Steamers failed to turn up – the third default the Goats have suffered this season. Saturday’s “result” puts the Goats joint top of Division 2.

GBAFC president Phil Smith says action needs to be taken to prevent such behaviour. “Something I've now been pushing for harsher fines for doing making it harder to make them default. We are up to nine defaults to GBAFC so far this season, so it is pretty disappointing. We do loads of travel and for the most part [away] teams only need to travel once to us.”

Responding to an inquiry from The GB Weekly , Nelson Bays Football operations administration manager Val Smith described the defaults as “very disappointing” and explained that the issue was being addressed. “…we are aware of the situation and will be discussing it at the next Presidents Working Group meeting, which is coming up shortly, to prevent this from becoming a continuing future problem.”