NATIONAL pride was on the line as the local rugby competition took a break from regular fixtures to honour New Zealand’s national day Waitangi Day on Saturday.
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A decent crowd came along to the Alma Street Grounds to watch a New Zealand selection from the local league take on Australia.
And while it wasn’t quite the All Blacks versus the Wallabies, the passion was no less intense either in the haka the Kiwis did before the game, or in the game itself.
After the anthems ended, it was New Zealand who quickly got on the ascendancy with a lot of positive running causing problems on the flanks.
They almost made the breakthrough on six minutes but Australia held their line.
But on 12 minutes more crafty Kiwi play got them through for the first five pointer of the day.
The try was unconverted but New Zealand were good value for their 5-0 lead.
They dominated until the half hour mark when one of their players was sin-binned for a high tackle.
Australia were camped in the New Zealand 25 for the last 10 minutes but couldn’t make the extra man count and it stayed 5-0 at oranges.
Australia kept up the intensity at the start of the second half and were rewarded with their only try of the night on 49 minutes with a well worked move.
They were unable to convert the extras and gave away possession on the restart.
New Zealand punished them with their forwards rolling over the line to make it 10-5 almost immediately.
Again no one could nail the extras with the boot.
The rest of the game was a war of attrition with chances at either end.
The last few plays of the game saw Australia camped in the New Zealand 25, just like they were at the end of the first half.
But full credit to New Zealand’s defence which held strong throughout.
When the final whistle blew it was the men in black who emerged victorious 10 points to 5.
Full credit to both sides for running rugby and their refusal to take the easy three point options when presented with penalties.
Normal fixtures resume next week.
