Friday, July 11, 2014
Horowhenua Chronicle
23
Slick Shannon keep Old Boys at bay By TANYA WOOD The maroon and white army once again proved too strong as Shannon took the upperhand and never let up in the Premier rugby game on home turf against Levin College Old Boys. Denied a try early on in the first half by solid Old Boys defence, it wasn’t long before Shannon had seven points on the board with a try and conversion, followed in relatively quick succession by two more tries, one conversion and a penalty to lead 22-0. LCOB hit back with a try of their own, deep in the corner, by centre Sani Ulu-Kini before the halftime whistle. The second half of the game was almost a repeat performance of the first. Shannon scored the first try, converted, followed by a try from LCOB centre Ulu-Kini and converted by first-five Lafi Salu, but then the Shannon machine stepped up a gear to notch up another two tries and a conversion. At 41-12, it looked like game over but to LCOB’s credit they fought to the end and posted a last-minute try, by loose forward Gideon Masoe — converted by Salu, before the final whistle, bringing the score to 41-19. Shannon coach Tony Robinson said the game was a good test. “It was a good game against good opposition. At times they held on to the ball and were dangerous but I suppose maybe we wore them down and exposed them in a few places,” he said. Shannon, currently leading the table, have done enough to secure their place in the semifinals at home but Robinson is aware that Paraparaumu is only two points behind. “If we win this Saturday, we’ll finish on top and play the fourth placed team, which is currently Levin Athletic. We’re pretty focused and we’ve got a good bunch of guys who’ve worked hard this season and trained well all year. We obviously want to continue the way we’ve been going but anything can happen in semis.” LCOB manager Dean Thomas said his team needed to win the game against Shannon to secure a semifinal place. “We did quite well keeping them from scoring during the first 20 minutes but those spell of tries in 10 minutes really knocked us back. But credit to the guys, they came back and played with a lot of heart with their backs up against the wall. In the end it didn’t really matter because Athletic won and put us out of the semifinals.” LCOB will play Paraparaumu on Saturday in their final game.
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TRY TIME: Shannon fullback Ra Broughton slides past LCOB openside flanker Peter Antonio towards the tryline in Saturday’s Premier match at Shannon Domain. PHOTOS: TANYA WOOD
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LCOB centre Sani Ulu-Kini avoids the clutches of Shannon lock Tainui Woodmass to score one of two tries during the match. “We’ll go out and try and salvage a little bit of pride and hopefully soften Paraparaumu
up and increase Shannon’s chance of bringing home the trophy,” Thomas said.
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LCOB second-five Vili Tia holds on to the ball but loses a boot, clutched by Shannon halfback Anthony Porima. LCOB half back Ropata Matehaere, far left, and Shannon flanker Todd Shields, far right.