By TBHS | Posted: Wednesday July 4, 2018
Otago Boys’ High took the overall honours in a competitive exchange in Timaru on Wednesday 20 June. Otago won six fixtures to Timaru’s three, with a draw in the 1st X1 Hockey.
Fortunately, the weather and ground conditions held together well enough to allow a full programme of events to be completed.
The 1st X1 Hockey side came back from 3-1 down to snatch a 3 all draw via a late Elliot Barratt equaliser. This was a fast paced, evenly contested match throughout the 60 minutes. Tim Sheed and William Sharp were the other goal scorers for Timaru. For TBHS, the game was a precursor to their Canterbury Schools match in Ashburton later the same day which saw Timaru hold the highly rated St Andrew’s College side to a one all draw and retain the Connetics Challenge Shield. This represents a significant turnaround from the recent inter-school clash where St Andrew’s recorded a decisive 5-0 victory.
In the 2nd X1 Hockey fixture, TBHS romped to a 9-0 win in a fine team performance. Hamish Tayler with three and Year 9 Cooper Mason with a double, led the charge for Timaru.
Both Football fixtures were evenly contested. The Junior match saw a physical Otago side record a 3-1 victory. For a Timaru side who has largely had things their own way this season, this will be an important learning curve for them. Key players for TBHS were Hayden Teixeria, Pero Forman and Reece Burtenshaw.
In the 1st X1 fixture, Otago Boys’ took the spoils with a tight 2-1 win. For Timaru, Tyler Cunningham scored the home sides solitary goal while Tom Baxter continued his good season with another solid, dependable display at the defensive end of the park.
The Junior Basketball (Years 9 and 10), provided one of the highlights for the home school in their 71-70 victory. For Timaru, Ethan Seyb and Kaleb Small controlled the offense and shot well as both contributed 16 points. Lincoln Preston and Corey Martin were strong under the boards and important parts of a strong team performance that earnt a good win for TBHS. A big, athletic Otago side were comfortable 103-44 winners of the senior game. For Timaru, Year 11s, Jack Crossan (21 points) and Seb van den Bosch (11 points), were the best of an outgunned side.
The 1st XV fixture saw Otago Boys’ race out to an ominous 31-0 lead after 25 minutes. This was on the back of a traditionally powerful and well drilled pack whose rolling mauls and pick and go’s close to the line were hard to stop. To the credit of Timaru Boys’, they regrouped and held Otago to a final 38-7 score line which was a tenacious effort from a young side missing several of their older more experienced players.
For TBHS, an outsized pack tried hard with George Mulder, TJ Lensley, Dion McKeown and Mac Edwards putting in particularly committed efforts. In the backs, Jimmy Robertson in his first game back from injury, cleared the ball well at halfback, while second-five Joel Hill put in some nice touches, and outside backs Jonetani Vasurakuta and Jack Mullany had their moments on attack.
The Colts match was a good game of rugby between two evenly matched sides. Otago scored in the dying stages to snatch a 29-26 win. For TBHS, Ryan Allan was elusive at fullback, wing Hugh Cameron was again a force with ball in hand and scored twice while number eight David Edh led the forward effort with a physical, committed effort.
In Chess, Otago dominated in a 14-2 win with Matthew Lang recording both of Timaru’s wins.
Pleasingly, the Trapshooting team came away with another inter-school victory with a decisive 467-390 win to continue their encouraging form.
