After winning 2 bus trip games in a row the boys had the challenge of trying to pick up their first win of the season at home against a well performed Star team who were just outside the top 4 on the points table. 

In damp conditions Star scored first with a penalty in the first 10 minutes before Rolly got a sniff of the tryline from the 22 and in a blistering display of acceleration shuffled his svelte frame down the sideline to score the first try of the day. Cam McStay also displayed some excellent finishing skills and scored a long range try. Along with a couple of further tries and Jako managing to kick a couple of extras the score nearing halftime was POB 24 Star 8.

A great period of defence about 10 minutes before half time kept Star out and restricted their points to the early penalty and a try. In the 2nd half Star being abit short of numbers on the bench resorted to the recent POB tactic of putting front row forwards in their backline which provided a fair match up for Rolly and Sam when he came on.

POB kept up their momentum in the 2nd half and despite the damp conditions played some good attacking rugby and kept the scoreboard ticking over. Tuki Hiko playing his last game for us this season scored a nice try in the
corner, he also got a 10 minute rest behind the posts for a minor indiscretion which earned him a yellow card. Cody Gavan benefited from not having his brother Lennon on the paddock and took a nice pass close to the line just before fulltime to finish off the game with his first try of the
season.

Mike Keenan slotted in nicely at no.8 in place of Shrimpy and Oscar did some great work at half back. The whole bench was used and the final score was the result of the good teamwork the boys have been displaying in the recent weeks.

POB 42 Star 8 - a result Jamie Clarke has been waiting along time for... 

Pirates-Old Boys 42 (Tuki Hiko, Jamie Clarke, Cody Gavan, Mike Keenan,

Cameron McStay, Daniel Rolton tries; Jack Sharland 3 con, 2 pen) bt Star 8

(Mana Wright try, Sam Tauriki pen) Halftime: Old Boys 24-8 
Last game of the season for us this weekend at home against Marist who have

had some good wins and have spent all season in the top 1/2 of the table.

Theme for Saturday night at the club is "bring a date".

Saturday saw us hit the road again on the last bus trip of the season to Nightcaps to Play Ohai - Nightcaps. Our 3 previous bus trips had seen victories over Tokanui, Balfour - Lumsden and Pioneer so making it 4 out of 4 was a priority for the boys.

The ground at Nightcaps was in good condition and an open cast coal mine operating in the background made for an impressive setting. The game kicked off and both teams got stuck into it. POB carried on their good form from the Pioneer game and scored 2 early tries to Buskey & birthday boy Ash.

Jibba went off for a blood bin 20 minutes into the first 1/2 (sorry Jibba - no touch judges in Div2 rugby) which saw Dennis go to 10 and Oscar slot into 1/2 back. POB kept up the momentum and further tries were scored by Jako, Dennis and Lennon. 

Lennon was awarded his try much to the dismay of the local crowd after the ref waited for a couple of players who had tackled Lennon to get off him before he was able to check the grounding.  Jak Sharland took over the kicking duties from Oscar and managed one conversion which made the 1/2 time score 27 0 to POB.
 
Injury and illness saw Ben and Rolly replaced in the backline in the 2nd half by a prop (Lennon) and a hooker (Hayden) which along with Sams recent conversion to 2nd five made 11 of the team forwards which suited the 2nd half conditions.

Ohai - Nightcaps started off the second 1/2 determined to get some points on the board and scored first with an unconverted try. The second 40 was a good even battle 2 further tries were scored by Jako and Dennis along with
another conversion. Another try was bombed after Lennon failed to run in his brother Cody for a simple try which caused some discussion between them. Maybe some backyard passing practice as youngsters would have helped.

A feature of our recent games has been some minor sledging of opposition players based on hair colour. Ohai Nightcaps turned the tables on us this week with Shrimpy being called a woolly headed git due to some over vigorous play during the 1st half. 

The final score was 39 - 5. Hard to single players out from such a good team effort but the good performances in recent weeks have been the result of some good work by the tight 5 in the scrum and lineout work complemented by
the loose forwards which has given the backline some front foot ball to work with.

Ohai Nightcaps were excellent hosts, they have a long history as a club and the photos on the wall show they have always been a strong team in their sub union and have produced a number of Southland reps. 

Dress code for the trip back to Vegas was brown leather jackets, singlet and trackpants with optional Old Boys (1980s era) powder blue dress jerseys that Johnsy had found stashed away at the clubrooms.

A couple of guys played their last game for the season on Sat:  Dupree who played his first full game (after popping his dislocated thumb back in) is off to work in a gulag for a month or so. Shrimpy who has been on top of his game in recent weeks is moving away to work up in Canterbury, his experience and leadership will be a big loss.

The next two weeks see us at home for games against Star and Marist.

The team hit the road to Gore on Sat for bus trip #3 of the year. We were playing the early game at the Gore showgrounds as a curtain raiser to the Barbarians v Woodlands game. You might be able to catch it on ILT Club Rugby on CUE TV during the week.

Pioneer have had a pretty good season to date and were in 5th place on the competition ladder behind Wyndham so were always going to be a big challenge especially on their home turf. 

A feature of the POB backline was the lightweight inside back combo of Jamie Harvey and Oscar Jenkins, this was offset by the heavyweight midfield combo of Daniel Rolton and Sam Samu with an estimated combined of weight of 250 kgs POB took a positive attitude into the game and scored an early try thru Hayden Pearce (who started the game at hooker and ended the game on the left wing). Further tries to Oscar and Rolly saw POB ahead at half time 15 8.

Pioneer scored a converted try early in the 2nd half to make it 15 all and the game turned into an arm wrestle. 
Some scrambling defence shut down a number of breaks by the Pioneer backs, penalties were exchanged to take the score to 18 all then going into the last 15 minutes Pioneer scored another 3 points to lead 21 - 18. The injection of the Hiko brothers and both coaches from the bench gave the team some added spark and a Dennis Thompson short ball to big Sam saw him crash over under the posts to make the score 23 - 18 to POB (yes we missed the conversion).

With 5 minutes to go play went from end to end as Pioneer tried to score the winning points but the boys held on for a much deserved win which is a testament to the Shane Harvey coaching manual - when playing a better team drag them down to your level.

Player of the day was Spencer Marshall and Shrimpy was named the Lone Star player of the day by Tom Conroy. Tom had given the player of the day award to the Pioneer left wing but had to change his decision after the winger got yellow carded after having an altercation with Shrimpy. 

Jamie Harvey was awarded the green jacket due his masterful display of bounce passing and missing the conversion in front of the sticks. To balance the ledger Jamie put in some good work on the track and displayed his mongrel Harvey genes by rucking a Pioneer player at the back of a ruck which started some fisticuffs and ended up with a player from each side getting 10 minutes in the bin.

Ben Alsop managed to turn up for the game this week and put in a good contribution after replacing Jamie Clark. Cody Gavan and Jonno Dennision also put in good 80 minute efforts.

All in all a good team effort with a number of guys playing out of position but still giving their best. 

The boys are 3 from 3 from their bus trip games this year and hope to make it 4 from 4 when we travel out to the wild west this Saturday to play Ohai-Nightcaps.

Hospitality at the Pioneer clubrooms was excellent and they have got the best fireplace in Southland.

Well done to the Cs and Prems for their good wins. 

 A big game for the Div2 boys against a higher ranked team on Saturday. Conditions were excellent although the morning frost was still hanging around at the top of the field.

A good all round effort saw the boys push Collegiate all the way. Unfortunately we didn't take a couple of chances to score and after a big 2nd half which saw POB dominating territory and possession the final score was
17 - 13 Collegiate. 

Some big games are still ahead of us with bus trips to Gore (Pioneer) and

Ohai Nightcaps followed by two games in town against Star and Marist.

Training on Tues night week was interesting with the ground being completely frozen. Makes you appreciate what the schoolboys grades are faced with when they have their early morning games. The Prems had a good win on Sat against Midlands, hope they can do the same against Marist on Sat.

Sat 23 June saw the 2nd bus trip of the year roll round and the boys hit the road to play Balfour Lumsden at Lumsden. With 12 squad members being unavailable due to injury, illness, playing for the prems and work a smaller
squad than usual consisting of 13 forwards and 5 backs made the trip to Northern Southland. 

Player coaches are reasonably common in Div 2 with Tokanui, Mossburn and
Central Pirates (that I know of) having coaches that pull on the boots on when needed. Luckily the Div2 integrated coaching/management system came to the fore with both Regan and Dennis starting the game and  management taking
the 3rd spot on the bench behind Charlie and Sam. 

Balfour Lumsden were feeling the pinch number wise as well so a fair match up of 18 per side faced off. 
B-L scored first from a pick and go close to the line. Midway thru the first half Regan Johns came in from fullback to score a try for POB from the base of a ruck. Both sides had props kicking the extras and predictably neither of these conversions went over.

Just prior to the half time break B-L earned a penalty in front of the posts however they turned down the easy points and opted to go for a 5 pointer from a couple of scrums. Good scrummaging and defense  held B-L out with 5 all being the half time score.

A feature of the first half was some scorching runs from Hosea Shrimtpon who
was filling in on the left wing.

The second 1/2 started the same as the first with the conditions making the game a stop/start affair however both teams did their best to play positive footy and possession/territory was evenly shared. 

Ben Erskine scored a try early in the 2nd half but I have no idea what the build-up to that was. 10 minutes out from fulltime  a series of rucks close to the line saw Shrimpy give up his wing position to join the ruck leaving Johnsy to take the glory in the corner. Tuks had a crack at converting both tries from wide out, he was striking the ball nicely but was unsuccessful so 15 - 5 to POB with 10 minutes to go.

B-L lifted their game in the last 10 and the 40 minutes of defensive practice from the game against Woodlands certainly paid off with B-L only being able to score & convert in the last minute to make the final score 15-12. Conditions were wet and cold throughout the game but the track held up pretty well.

All in all an old school game of rugby with only two reserves used and a lot of the guys playing out of position. The win was a due to a great team effort with some excellent tacking being made by loose forwards Mike Keenan and Cody Gavan.

The aftermatch was enjoyable with B-L providing a meal which helped the boys
warm up abit. Player of the day was Corbin Winiata with Charlie Davis earning the green jacket after turning up at clubrooms straight from work wearing his chefs uniform. Rolly was also a strong candidate for the green jacket after slipping over on to his arse in front of both teams while making a warm up kick in his dance shoes.

After the ceremonies were completed at B-L the boys hit the bus and scooted
over to Mossburn to watch the All Blacks test at the Railway Hotel. The Cs joined us on their way back from their game in Te Anau so the pub was literally a sea of blue with the Cs having a Canadian tuxedo theme for their bus trip. Johnsy also stood out in his powder blue Old Boys dress jersey.

All in all a good weekend for the club with the Prems getting a much needed win (11 - 6) up in Gore v the Barbarians, Div 2 getting home 15 -12, the Cs winning 31 nil, and the under 18s backing up last weeks hard earned win over SBHS 2nd XV with a 26 nil victory against Riverton.

Big weekend coming up at the club this weekend with the all schoolboy teams playing in the morning at the club and the U18s, Cs, Div2 & Prems all playing at home in the afternoon.