Match Report- Coopers Coborn 2XV v Morrinsville College 2XV 

22nd July 2.20pm kick off-

After the fantastic Maori reception this morning the majority of the team were feeling a little intimidated by the sheer presence of the enormous Maori boys that stood tall in front of us. The first couple of minutes were very entertaining as it was end to end play. Owain Batley started the game with some brilliant "Sonny Bill Williams" esque offloads. The first try came from one of those offloads as Batley threw a long offload after his linebreak to Tom Roast who ran in under the posts. He then converted his own try. Following this fantastic start Henry Beckett executed a nice move and spun out of a tackle before diving over the try line in the corner. After the joy of scoring he then fell to the ground in spasm with a cry of "ahhhh cramp". A couple of minutes later, a surge from Ewan Green from the halfway line produced another great try as he brushed off a series of tackles from the tiring Morrinsville defence and scored near the corner flag. After the missed conversion it was soon half time and we were 17-0 up with a rest well needed as many of us were feeling the effects of playing our first game in a while! The second half began like the end of the first as Coopers were camped on the Morrinsville try line. After a few squandered chances with try scoring opportunities being missed, finally a try was scored, a long pass was thrown wide and caught by Beckett before he gassed straight through a defender on the outside and slid over for the try. After the missed conversion it was 22-0 and Coopers were all over Morrinsville right up until a late effort came from the home team. They were sustaining pressure on the Coopers try line as the Morrinsville forwards attempted to breach our defence and put themselves on the scoreboard. After many phases of pick and go's and being held up by Coopers defence, the Morrinsville team were finally penalised for holding on and Coopers had escaped without any damage to their lead. The game finished shortly after this passage of play and Coopers had won 22-0 with a well-deserved rest needed before the next game in Masterton on Monday which is sure to be another tough game for the Coopers 2nd XV.

Written by Tom L-R and Fergus M-O