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.