Despite going down 28-20 to St Thomas of Canterbury, MAGS’ Rugby League 1st XIII took a lot of encouragement from their second half effort when they fought back from 18-4 down at halftime. Team manager Richard Watkinson says by the time MAGS realised they could score easily against St Thomas if they played a wide game, it was too late to overhaul them. In the dying moments, Kayne Mave made a great break but couldn’t find a runner with his offload – although a converted try still wouldn’t have been enough.
MAGS scored first after a pinpoint kick-off from David Otukolo earned a scrum on the 20m line. Javvier Pitovao picked up the ball from the scrum and powered over to score just to the right of the posts. Unfortunately, a tricky wind pushed David’s kick right of the uprights, but it was a perfect start to the tournament.
The tide turned quickly though and St Thomas bounced back with four tries before halftime but only one was converted due to the tough wind. Their props made good metres up the middle and their left centre was a constant threat.
In the second half, MAGS played smarter and defended their middle with more determination and got back into the game when Kayne Mave scored after showing some good footwork close to the line. But a mistake from the resulting kick-off gave St Thomas a scrum and feed and it took one tackle for them to work an overlap on the left. They scored again from close range and were able to add the extra two to take the score to 28-10.
After that, MAGS started to move the ball much more effectively and the outside backs began to show their pace. James Strickland scored on the left wing and then Lagiono Nelson crashed over under the posts after the defence had been stretched right and left. MAGS finished the game hot on attack but ran out of time to secure the victory. Next up is a must-win game against Papatoetoe High.