NELSON COLLEGE RUGBY NEWS
2nd August 2021
It has been a big week of Rugby for Nelson College. It started last Saturday with the U14A team playing CBHS in Culverden & the U15A team playing CBHS U15A in Hanmer. The U14's played against a very strong CBHS team and came away with plenty of learnings, while the U15's played a strong game only to lose 24-26 on the final play of the game. Well done to both of these teams. Tuesday saw the 1st XV play Timaru Boys' High School at Neale Park on a very wet surface. The team played well in the conditions, successfully defending the Trust Bank Cup and moving into second place in the Miles Toyota Championship with a 22-12 win.
Wednesday saw Marlborough Boys' College come over to play against our U15A and 2nd XV teams. The 2nd XV game was played at Greenmeadows, Stoke, and was a keenly contested match. Nelson College lead from the start and won the game 29-5. The U15 game had to be moved off Greenmeadows to Broads. The field was very wet and made for a close game, but Nelson College showed their potential to win 36-7.
On Friday, the TRU Cup started with our U16A team taking on Motueka High School in their first game together. The team started well scoring a try off a mid field scrum, with Ollie Jones breaking the defense out wide, drawing in the fullback and passing off to Blake Craddock to score under the posts. They scored 3 further tries to Callum Robertson (2) & Dane Leppien, with all tries converted by Nick Tootell for a 28-15 win.
On Saturday, the U17 Quinns team played well to earn a 43-12 win over Marlborough Boys' College Gold. Our U15 team played Marlborough Boys' College Blue and played very well in a close game only going down 12-17. Our U14's had a tough challenge taking on a very good Motueka High School team in Motueka. They managed to cross for 3 tries which is great, eventually going down 17-69. Finally, the 1st XV played the Mid Canterbury Combined 1st XV on the front field claiming a strong 83-17 win and cementing their place in the top 4. For a full report of the game read here. They now travel to Timaru on Friday to play against Roncalli Aoraki Combined, with a win guaranteeing them a home semi final on August 14th.
Well done to all Nelson College teams, coaches and managers. It has been a busy week but great to see so many boys out playing Rugby and enjoying themselves.
AIM FOR FAIR PLAY
Over term 2, the Tasman Rugby Union ran the Aim for Fair Play with Armageddon initiative. This initiative is aimed to encourage teams to play in the “spirit of the game”, improve the experience for all people involved in the game including referees, players, coaches & parents, and reduce the number of yellow & red cards. The winning teams win a day out at Armageddon Paintball! The results are in and Nelson College have placed 1st & 2nd in both the U14 & U17 grades!! Congratulations to these teams and well done! It is great to see our teams being rewarded for good behavior at our games and really aligns with our values of sportsmanship, integrity, respect, responsibility and teamwork. Thank you to the coaches, managers and parents of these teams. Awesome work and enjoy the paintball. Thanks also to Armageddon for sponsoring this fantastic initiative.
Kind Regards
Mark Cochrane
Master in Charge of Rugby
M. 0274 80 3005
E. ce@nelsoncollege.school.nz
