Match Report 10th June

COLLEGE GAME VS ST KEVINS

This year 2009 is the 48^th time St Thomas and St Kevin's have contested for the G Airey Cup. The ledger currently reads St Thomas 16 wins St Kevin's 29 wins with 2 years when the exchange was cancelled due to snow and 1 draw. This year's contest started in the traditional manner of both schools performing passionate hakas, once the formalities were completed the action started with St Thomas playing into a gale force wind. The early exchanges were tight with St Thomas gaining early dominance at set piece and thus dominating possession. This early domination in possession was translated into early points with St Thomas scoring two early tries to lead 10-0.

The St Thomas boys used the ball extremely well running the ball several times from their own line and as the half closed the St Kevin's boys were showing signs of fatigue and two more tries were posted giving St Thomas a powerful 20-0 lead going into the second half. The second half started in similar vein to the first half with St Thomas breaking the line through the midfield constantly and these breaks were being finished with tries on most occasions. The forward pack laid the platform for the backline to really click and score some scintillating long range tries. As the game ended the score ballooned to 46-0 the largest winning margin by St Thomas over St Kevin's. A lot of credit for this performance has to go to the forward pack who gave the backline go forward ball they have been searching for this season.

Scorers: 

Tries:   K Vailuu, J Donnelly, K Petelo (2) J Lester, F Meafou, M Selave, L Allan.

Conversions: K Petelo (2), J Donnelly (2)

Team List: 1. V. Vete, 2. C. Stewart, 3. K. Vailuu, 4. G. Radburnd, 5. L. Barry, 6. K. Burke, 7. J. Hall, 8. M. Elia, 9. J. Donnelly, 10. K. Petelo, 11. J. Lester, 12. F. Meafou, 13. P. Stehlin, 14. J. Tansey, 15. T. Scott, 16. M. Selave, 17. L. Allan, 18. J. Tongia, 19. K. Belcher, 20. T. Noa, 21. L. Payne, 22. C. Walls

Round 6 Match Report VS. WAIMEA

This week was yet another difficult challenge for the St Thomas 1^st XV against a Waimea team coming off the back of a powerful victory over CBHS 1^st XV. The game started in a positive vein for the St Thomas team by opening the scoring after just two minutes. The try was created by a patient build up through several phases until Kolio Vailuu scored after some excellent handling by Matt Elia on the blind side. In the early exchanges Waimea showed a clear dominance at the set piece with a very powerful scrum and tall lineout causing St Thomas to cherish whatever possession they had. The St Thomas team did this by being dominant at the breakdown captain Sean Leckie leading the way in this area. St Thomas soon scored again with a cleverly worked try to Fia Meafou taking the score out to 12-0 after 15 minutes.

The St Thomas backline was playing with a lot of cohesion and confidence this week showing a desire to move the ball from all parts of the ground this was seen with many sweeping movements starting from strong bursts in the midfield by Meafou and Stehlin. This go forward was being translated into large chunks of territory on the flanks with Lester, Tansey and Scott combining well to score the third try and take a well deserved 17-3 lead into the half. Waimea started the second half with a strong southerly at their backs strongly scoring twice within the first 20 minutes of the half to bring the score back to 17-15. The St Thomas boys were withstanding wave after wave of attack and showed a lot of courage in doing so. After holding firm St Thomas held onto the ball and started to put Waimea back under pressure it wasn't long before this pressure was transferred into points with a well taken try to Kasiano Petelo crashing over from close range after a sustained attack.

The game changed when St Thomas scored this fourth bonus point try with 10 minutes to go this closed the game out. St Thomas will be very happy to take the 5 points out of the game and deny Waimea a bonus point as both teams will be vying for a top 4 berth this year. Liam Barry had a strong game round the field particularly at kick offs and at the break down. Stehlin and Meafou broke the opposition at will and are forming into an excellent combination in the midfield. Josh Tansey in his second start demonstrated a lot of potential.  

Scorers- Tries F. Meafou, T. Scott, K. Vailuu, K. Petelo, K Petelo (2 con)

Team List- 1. V. Vete, 2 C. Stewart, 3 K. Vailuu, 4 L. Barry, 5 K. Burke, 6 J. Hall, 7 S. Leckie©, 8 M Elia, 9 J. Donnelly, 10 K. Petelo, 12 F. Meafou, 13 P. Stehlin, 11 J. Lester, 14 J. Tansey, 15 T. Scott, 16 L Allan, 17 J. Tongia, 18 K Belcher, 19 L Payne, 20 J Koloamatangi, 21 G Radburnd, 22 C Walls 

Match Report VS. St Bedes College 30th May

This week the St Thomas 1^st XV travelled to St Bedes to play the competition leaders. It wasn't to long before we saw why St Bedes has been undefeated at home for two seasons. In what was an outstanding display by the boys from Main North Road in the first 35 minutes, displaying excellent controlled patterned rugby. The first points coming in the first 5 minutes in the match to a well constructed try by St Bedes.

During the first spell St Bedes dominated possession and territory and with a plethora of ball converted most opportunities into points. In the first half young No.8 Matthew Elia showed he is a player with a lot of potential with some outstanding skill and powerful bursts. The half time score sadly read 0-31. An exhausted St Thomas side re-grouped at half time and set to put some pride back into their performance. St Thomas started the second half with a lot more passion and accuracy at set piece. With more possession and better option taking the St Thomas side started to compete and mount some pressure on a very good St Bedes team. St Bedes opened the scoring 15 minutes into the second spell but this was the only points St Bedes would score in the first half. For the rest of the half St Thomas dominated possession and territory and started to play some good rugby.

The turn around was well lead by skipper Sean Leckie who gave 100% all game. Patrick Stehlin who moved back into the midfield at half time put on several bone rattling tackles which would have left several St Bedes players sore on Sunday morning. St Thomas finished the second half with a well taken try to Liam Barry. A much improved second half in which both teams scored one converted try should give the St Thomas boys a lot of confidence going into next weeks home match against Waimea.

Team List: 1. Luke Payne, 2. Kolio Vailuu, 3. Viliami Vete, 4. Liam Barry, 5. Kyle Burke, 6. Callum Walls, 7. Sean Leckie, 8. Uwe Helu, 9. Lewis Allan, 10. Kasiano Petelo, 11. Jonathan Lester, 12. Fia Meafou, 13. Thomas Scott, 14. Karl Belcher, 15. Patrick Stehlin, 16. Jesse Donnelly, 17.James Tongia, 18. Josh Tansey, 19. Campbell Stewart, 20. Jason Hall, 21. Jordan Koloamatangi, 22. Gerard Radburnd.

Match Report VS. Christ College.

The match played in gale force southerly winds and rain saw St Thomas play with the wind at their backs in the first half. Christs started strongly but it wasn't long before St Thomas used the strong wind and swept onto attack. Strong defence and a very good set piece allowed Christs to keep in the game. St Thomas had a major blow inside the first five minutes losing outstanding No. 8 Uwe Helu, this bought young year 11 replacement Matt Elia into the game.

Christs proved very efficient at the breakdown with a number of turnovers and their very tall lineout were proving hard to compete with. As Christs started to dominate possession a mis-directed kick allowed the College winger to gather the kick and run 60 metres to touch down and take a 5-0 lead into the wind. St Thomas re-started strongly and moved up the field pinning college into their 22 for long periods forcing college to try and kick their way out of trouble which they struggled with. With time in the first half winding down and College looking to take a lead to the half having played into the wind. Replacement number 8 Matt Elia charged a laboured College clearing kick and scampered 15m in goal to control the ball and force for the try. The conversion by Kasiano Petelo hit the upright. The ref's whistle for half time blew shortly after half time score 5-5 and Christ College were in a strong position heading into the second half with the strong southerly at their backs.

Christ College started the second half strongly and were soon pounding on the St Thomas goal line ... wave after wave was defended. The referee found an infringement and Christ College scored an early penalty 8-5. In what was an inspired next 30 minutes by St Thomas where they had the better of both territory and possession they ground their way back into the match soon drawing level with a well taken penalty to Kasiano Petelo. The rest of the match become an arm wrestle between both packs with Kolio Vailuu to fore taking numerous hit ups and taking valuable yards each time.

St Thomas produced a last opportunity near the end with Matt Elia who had a strong all round game breaking off the back of the scrum the pass to full back Patrick Stehlin only just missing the mark and Christs survived. The 8-8 draw was a fair reflection of the match both teams will be left rueing their inability to control the match with the wind at their backs. Ironically both teams produced their best rugby playing into the wind. St Thomas will take a lot from the character and passion they played with in the second half and this could well be a turning point for the 2009 side as they look forward to next weeks challenge against St Bedes College.

Scorers for St Thomas: Matthew Elia (Try) Kasiano Petelo( 1 pen)

St Thomas- 1. Luke Payne, 2. Kolio Vailuu. 3. Viliami Vete, 4. Liam Barry, 5. Kyle Burke, 6. Callum Walls, 7. Sean Leckie, 8. Uwe Helu, 9. Lewis Allen, 10. Kasiano Petelo, 11. Josh Tansey, 12. Fia Meafou, 13. Thomas Scott, 14. Karl Belcher, 15. Patrick Stehlin, 16. James Foster, 17. Jonathan Lester, 18. Josh Maclean, 19. Jordan Koloamatangi, 20. Jason Hall, 21. Gerrard Radburnd, 22. Matthew Elia.

POINTS TABLE AFTER ROUND 6

 

 

Team	P	W	D	L	BP	P/F	P/A	P/D	PTS
St Bedes	6	6	0	0	5	194	38	156	29
Nelson Coll	6	5	1	0	3	213	54	159	25
Christs Coll	6	4	1	1	3	181	66	115	21
Marl Boys	5	3	0	2	3	134	80	54	15
Waimea Coll	6	3	0	3	3	114	123	-9	15
CBHS	5	2	1	2	4	110	49	61	14
St Thomas	6	2	1	3	4	139	112	27	14
SBHS	6	2	0	4	3	72	157	-85	11
Burnside High	5	2	0	3	2	82	217	-135	10
Lincoln High	5	2	0	3	0	50	105	-55	8
St Andrews	5	1	0	4	3	72	88	-16	7
Timaru Boys	4	1	0	3	1	62	159	-97	5
West Coast	5	0	0	5	0	38	213	-175	0