OBU Continue Winning Ways

Round 3 Review Old Boys University again came out on top beating Oriental Rongotai 26-14 in round three of the Hardham cup. The feature match was dominated for nearly the entire 80 minutes by OBU dictating play from start to finish. Poneke took their first win 31-8 over bottom of the table Northern United who again failed to obtain any competition points. Hutt Old Boys Marist had another win against Petone on Saturday 57-8, bringing them level with OBU on 14 points. Johnsonville had their second win, convincingly beating Marist St Pats 27-8 putting them in third place and in good shape to make the semi-finals.

The feature match between OBU and Ories showed the power and precision of the OBU side. Their overall teamwork and efficiency at the breakdowns saw them easily take maximum points from the encounter. During the first half it was all one-way traffic with OBU the only side to grace the scoreboard with two tries and two penalties giving them a handy 16 point lead at the break.

When the second half began it looked as though is would be much of the same with OBU scoring two quick tries. However Ories began to make a late charge scoring two converted tries putting them on 14 points. But it was too little too late with OBU finishing strongly.

The defence from Ories could have been better, missing numerous first up tackles allowed OBU to be very dangerous on attack. Handling errors were another problem for the side giving away possession allowed OBU to take advantage. The OBU backline were in fine form with hurricane centre Conrad Smith leading by example breaking tackles and defending well. One thing that did hinder OBU was goal kicking. All four tries were not converted which could have proved crucial if the match had been closer, giving both sides a few things to work on for the coming weeks.