CLUB RUGBY:

Unbeaten in the first four weeks of the CMK premier club rugby competition, Coastal and Stratford/Eltham suffered their first losses of the season on Saturday.

Coastal were beaten by Tukapa 35-10, while New Plymouth Old Boys picked up their second win with a solid 35-14 victory over Stratford/Eltham.

Despite the losses, Coastal still has a two point lead over Stratford/Eltham on 19 points.

In Rahotu, Tukapa found their rhythm against Coastal scoring five tries to two.

Returning from injury, Tukapa first five-eighth Jayson Potroz was influential in the match as he was involved in all five tries and scored one himself.

Unusually, Coastal trailed by 21-5 at the break and could only manage a try at the start and end of the match to halfback Logan Crowley and lock Dylan Schuler.

New Plymouth Old Boys also got back to winning ways at Vogeltown Park claiming their second win of the season.

As Old Boys trailed by 14-13 at the break, the defending champions found their form in the second half and scored three second half tries.  

Stratford/Eltham will be happy with their first half effort as their maul and scrum was stronger than their opponents.

Old Boys first five-eighth Brayton Northcott-Hill built on last week’s performance after returning from injury.

Spotswood United has claimed three wins on the bounce beating Inglewood 30-27 at Yarrow Stadium.

What was going to be an interesting match in the forwards, it was difficult to determine who had the dominance.

With the score at 17-all at the break, Spotswood United’s first five-eighth Josh Jacomb slotted three penalties which appeared to be the difference.

Inglewood’s three tries came off accurate set-piece moves, which is encouraging moving forward in the competition. Loose forward Rhodes Featherstone scored a brace for the maroons.

In the final match of the weekend, Clifton pipped Southern 27-23 in Hawera.

Southern got out to a strong 18-7 lead at halftime thanks to two first half tries.

However, Clifton performed better in the second spell scoring three tries, with two coming off Southern mistakes.

Southern are improving as they have narrowed their margins over the last two weeks.

After the weekend’s results, Coastal maintain their lead on the table with 19 points, followed by Stratford/Eltham (17), Clifton (16), Spotswood United (15), New Plymouth Old Boys (13), Tukapa and Inglewood (11) and Southern (3).

Article added: Sunday 28 April 2019