Forklifts NZ POB Div 2 v Ohai Nightcaps

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.