NZRL Monday Night Footy Results - Round 7

NZRL Monday Night Footy Results - Round 7

Unbeaten in their pool play games, Pakuranga College must have wondered what had hit them when only six minutes into tonight’s final of the Counties Manukau U85kg conference they were two tries down and had barely touched the ball. A knock on shortly after kick-off had gifted their opposition, Southern Cross Campus the ball and they weren’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth, with the impressive fullback Patrick Herbert stepping and weaving his way through for a try.

Within minutes Pakuranga had compounded their problems conceding two penalties and misjudging the wind to kick the ball out on the full. Herbert again made the most of the opportunity, stepping in and away and running through to score without a hand laid on him. The try was converted and it was 10 – nil to Southern Cross Campus.

But as any league commentator will tell you, it’s the few minutes before and after half time that are often critical to the outcome of a game, and when Pakuranga scored a converted try right before the break and another try shortly after, the momentum had changed and it was Pakuranga who made the best of damp and windy conditions in the second half, scoring two further tries and wrapping up the match 18-10.
This will Pakuranga High School's first rugby league grand final and the players and their very noisy crowd of supporters were understandably happy with the result. At the post match presentations Vic Tamati of It’s Not OK! presented the Player of the Day award to one player from each team - two try scorer Patrick Herbert of Southern Cross Campus and fellow try scorer George Vi of Pakuranga College.
The Player of the Tournament (Counties Manukau conference) was awarded to Ed Teofilo Fidow. Winning team captain Ryan Walden said it was great for the school to have a team in a rugby league competition, and that making the grand final was quite an achievement as lots of the boys had a rugby background and needing guiding around the park. He also thanked Sky and the NZRL for offering them this opportunity. Pakuranga College will now meet Orewa College in the grand final of the U85kg Secondary Schools competition next Monday October 15.

The Pirtek National Premiership game turned out to be a one sided affair, with the Akarana Falcons scoring a point a minute for the first 12 minutes before slowing to a more steady pace as handling errors affected both sides. The Falcons had a convincing 24 - nil lead at half time and although the Orcas had some good attacking passages of play, they couldn't convert their attack into points, allowing the Falcons to finish comfortable 38 - nil winners.

While the first half statistics were strongly in favour of the Falcons, who had 63% possession, completing 17 sets to the Orcas 9, by the end of the game the numbers had evened up a little, with both teams only completing around 70% of their sets. The big difference was in the line breaks, which were 12 - 1 in favour of the Falcons and the missed tackles, with the Orcas having missed 44. The final of the Pirtek National Premiership will feature the Counties Manukau Stingrays v the Akarana Falcons next Monday October 15.

U85kg Secondary Schools
Final - Counties Manukau conference
Pakuranga College 18: Walden, Sifa, Fuaia, Vi tries;Tataga conversion
Southern Cross Campus 10: Herbert (2) tries; Salelesi conversion
Pirtek National Premiership
Akarana Falcons 38: Matagi, Tufeao (2), Tippins, Walker (2), Blackwell tries; Walker 5 conversions
Wellington Orcas 0:

For all the details of the National Competition results please visit our website here.

ENDS

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