TEAM BUSINESS
Contact Details:
Jono White
MOB 027 444 3621
jono.white@contact-energy.co.nz
Check out photos of the action between the two OBU Under 19 Teams 2008.
Match Reports
OBU Green v OBU White: Date: 7 June 2008, Nairnville Park : After not playing each other last season, the much awaited clash between the two OBU Under 19 teams took place. The game did not start well for OBU green after some players thought they would go from Wellington to Khandallah via Petone for some reason and OBU White scored a runaway try to open up a 7-0 lead after 5 minutes.
However, this seemed to shock OBU Green, fielding 11 forwards in the starting line-up including "RAVISSSSSH" at halfback, into action and the rest of the first half was dominated by the green machine through tight, controlled rugby into the gale. Nice tries resulted, with a particularly well taken try by first five AARON "BLOCKMELON" TAYLOR, and OBU green had a comfortable 29-7 lead at the break.
OBU green turned with the wind behind them in the second half and a couple of reinforcements in JEETS and RALPHIE after their morning law exam had been completed. Both teams ran in some nice tries in the second half but OBU green proved far too strong in the forwards and backs.
Highlights from the second half included a nice spin move and try from halfback RALPHIE, nice tries from wingers JAMES "PREPPY" BENNETT and loosie turned winger GARY "MUTLEY" HOFMANS and a couple of big hits from RANGI "MILKY" RIRINUI. Final score 58 - 17.
All in all it was a good performance and a big step in the right direction for the remainder of the season.
A big thank you to the parents/family/friends who turned up and supported the guys in what were pretty rubbish conditions, including Mr Hehir (Ben's dad) and I think I saw some of the Taylor clan (correct me if I was wrong!). Please feel free to make yourselves know to the coaches (and manager Rach) if you turn up - we will be the ones yelling uncontrollably from the sideline!!!
Lastly, thank you very much to Kevin Booth (Oli's dad) who came and took some wonderful (and very professional) photos of the boys in action during the match and a very good team photo as well. Pay a visit to Kevin's site http://www.sportpix.co.nz/ to find photos of the action, thanks again Kevin.
MVP points
3 - Ravisssssh
2 - Taylor Solomon
1 - Mutley
OBU Green v Norths: 31 May 2008, 1.15pm, Onepoto Park, Titahi Bay: After a round one win OBU seemed confident they could topple Norths, and certainly looked like they were going to do so following the first half of play. OBU led 13 - 8 for most of the game from a YARNER KEEGAN try and a conversion and two penalties from JEETAN WILLIAMS. The first half saw some handy work from the forwards - helping us to end up at the right end of the field and some determined running from our backs. SAM ATMORE was hitting the line nicely until retiring hurt to his recurring knee injury. A breif spell from the bench saw EVAN ??? looking useful until felled ina dubious tackle. Whether the tackler used his arms seemed unknown by the referee, funny how certain thinkgs are missed by officials these days. That was the end of EVAN, KO'd and looking rather dazed.
The second half saw Norths gain momentum and start a brawl. MUTLEY HOFMANS and YARNER KEEGAN both copped a hiding - no surprise given the amount of crap each can talk. Nonetheless the boys got stuck into Norths in the second half and fought hard to hold onto the lead. Norths snuck ahead to 15 -13 through a converted try, leaving OBU a tough ask into the wind to bring it home. A cruel blow came when DANNEVEGAS, who again wa solid in the midfield, came agonisingly close after a break from inside our half. Somehow, we found ourselves back on our line, and with time almost up an attempt to run it out saw Norths sneak an intercept under the sticks. Final score 22 - 13 to Norths.
No MVP points allocated after a tough encounter.
Saturday 24 May OBU Green vs Johnsonville - 1.15pm Newlands Park
A couple of injuries saw us field a new backline combo on this occasion - all playing well an with some good heart. A bit of wet weather also showed its face leading up to the game, meaning handling was to become a bit of a task. Desite all of this we managed to get into the game early with two first half tries. The second half saw BLOCK MELON come off injured after a good performance in the midfield, then wing. A SAM ATMORE injury made life a bit tough with a wafer thin bench - queue MUTLEY HOFMANS on the wing and MYRON WITHAM to fullback (after a solid display at No.9). JAMES BENNETT was unfortunate to find himself resting on the sidelines for 10 minutes after a fairly innocuous call of 'killing the ball' - he's a winger, I wasn't sure outside backs knew what it meant to kill the ball.
Nonetheless, we got home 25 - 12 with five unconverted tries to ATMORE, RAVISSHHHHHH, WITHAM, JEETAN WILLIAMS and GISBORNE GOLD
MVP points for the game
3 - Dannevegas
2 - Myron Witham
1 - Aaron 'BLOCKMELON' Taylor
Saturday 17 May OBU Green vs Petone - 1.15pm Petone Rec: Our nemesis Petone was up to it's old tricks again this week, downing us 12 - 3. The match saw us draw level to 3 -3 for most of the game through a BEARD MAN penalty goal. Our desire to win was mediocre, standing out hugely at breakdown time where we almost gave Petone the ball on a number of occasions. Little more to report on than that with Petone sliding in for two tries (one converted) in the final ten minutes to put us to bed. Plenty of ball in hand, some solid defence and a good workrate saw RUSSELL 'YARNER' KEEGAN pick up 3 MVP points, VEGAS scooping 2 MVP points for doing his best to contain a large and bolshy midfield and 1 MVP point to Mr HURLEY for a good alround game and a lot of heart.
Saturday 10 May OBU U19 Green vs Stokes Valley - 1.15pm at Delaney Park, Stokes Valley.
Stokes Valley were struggling along on the bottom of the table, so our goal was to win, win well and apply our gameplan successully. We did end up scoring 9 tries and conceding none - so we achieved that piece. The game was quite bitsy early on with us scoring a few and throwing a few opportunities away. We did improve in the second half and started to focus on the things we do well - our defence and effort in the tackle coming alive and helping us score some good tries from inside our own half. We tried to use the gameplan every time we got the ball in the second half, but never really executed it properly. Often gaps were found before we'd used the gameplan - so you might say we never had ther chance to try it properly.
It was encouraging to see the effort put in and some exciting defence, both of which will be needed to beat Round 1 winners Petone this weekend.
Tries came from RAVISHHHHHH, OLI BOOTH, THE HULK, RANGI RIRINUI (2), ALEX ROBINSON, BLOCKHEAD, JEETAN WILLIAMS and JACK CRAWFORD with GINGER BERD MAN slotting 4 conversions (missing on each of the 3 occasions sideline bets were placed - up for grabs were with winnings to the value of 1) a dozen beers, 2) a packet of durries, 3) a night at the Hilton with the sister of an U21 player that he's been seeing).
MVP points for the week went as follows:
3. Oli Booth and James 'Gissy Gold' Penman
2. Floyd 'The Hulk' Wickstead
1. Jeetan Williams
Match report - OBU GREEN v Norths
Elsdon Park, Porirua 3 May, 2008
Things were always going to be a challenge with the game moved to Porirua at the last minute, plenty of overnight rain and an opposition like Norths. Despite recent attendances, we managed to field a full squad - cheers to OLI BOOTH, JAMES BENNETT, and Mrs BARRETT for their help on the day. Lucky for us we had a full squad, as everyone ended up getting a good run namely due to some questionable fitness on our part. About the game...
A patchy first half saw us 12 - 6 down at the break, our points coming from two LIAM CAREY penalties. Norths were'nt playing like the team of yesteryear, but we kept them in the game by failing to tidy up any ball left on the deck - despite the ref's explicit pre-match 'advantage' discussion. In the boys defence, the Norths inside backs were probably heavier than our complete forward pack, making life hard for LIAM and DANNEVIRKE to contain them. The second spell needed something special, Norths having their tails up after running us around prior to the break. A call for the reserves to make a difference when they got on the field worked and got us back in the game. ROMYN PETUHA came on in the front row and made yards every time he touched the ball, earning some kudos from both teams. Both locks also got a much needed spell after colliding heads earlier - JACK CRAWFORD having dominated at the front of the lineout - with OLI BOOTH making a good contribution when he came on. Second half tries to LIAM HURLEY and DAVE WILLIAMS got us ahead with a further CAREY converstion and penalty taking us out to 21 - 12 winners.
A superb 80 mins of all round work from RUSSELL KEEGAN, accurate kicking from LIAM CAREY and a huge game from Captain HURLEY got us home.
MVP
3 - Liam Hurley and Russell Keegan
2 – Liam Carey
1 – Romyn Petuha (aka Ravissshhhhh)
Match report - OBU GREEN v Johnsonville
Alex Moore Park, Johnsonville - 26 April, 2008
After a scratchy couple of weeks due to varsity holidays and what not OBU U19 Green finally played just their second game of the season vs Johnsonville and recorded their first win to get the season going. A glorious day in the capital welcomed back the boys from holidays and OBU quickly stepped out to a 12-0 lead after as many minutes courtesy to a well executed driving maul try from the lineout and a slick backline move from the backs. By halftime OBU led by 17-7, with the three first half time tries going to winger ALEX ROBINSON, some guy called JAMIE BARRETT and fellow winger AARON TAYLOR.
The second half went the way of the first with some attractive and skilful play from OBU, including a second try to ALEX ROBINSON and tries to hard working forwards GARY HOFFMANS and RANGI RIRINUI. Gary and Rangi both had standout performances in a well performing forward pack whilst first five LIAM CAREY added the extras and generally controlled the game well making sure OBU were never pinned down on defence for too long. It was good to get a win on the board and we now look forward to playing arch enemies from last season, Norths, next week where the boys know they will need to lift a few notches to really get the season up and running but the potential is there for a really successful season!
Thank you to Myron’s uncle for turning up to the game to support the team. We appreciate the support ,so if you turn up please come and make yourselves known!
Saturday Night at the Cambridge (clubrooms) was eventful…a few games, a few laughs. The night ended up with Mr Keegan, after an excellent lineout display, being the major casualty of the evening and everyone left ruing the fact that we did not place the team fine collections on Stephan Donald to score the first try against the reds @ $15 as suggested by one wise member of the team!
MVP
3 – Rangi Ririnui
2 – Gary Hoffmans
1 – Liam Carey and Alex Robinson
Link to WRFU draw
