Nelson too good for Waimea Combined

A stunning first-half performance from Nelson College blew local rivals Waimea Combined away in the latest round of the Crusaders Championship today.

Nelson ran in six tries to put the result to bed before the break as the side well and truly bounced back from its heartbreaking loss to Marlborough last week.

Waimea Combined refused to lie down however, managing to square the second half in a brave fight back.

Coach Jono Phillips says there was plenty of soul searching during the week following the last second loss to MBC.

“Marlborough did us a favour, the boys got a real confidence knock last week and needed to come back with a really good performance and they did it, that first half was magnificent for us.”

Dylan Irvine put in an immense shift at hooker for Nelson while Will Thornalley was all class at halfback.

"Will gave us all that early momentum we were looking for and young Dylan’s work rate was phenomenal.”

Nelson rang the changes in the second 35 which slowed the scoring but gave wider squad members some solid minutes.

“Some guys hadn’t had a lot of rugby, so it was good to see some new combinations.”

Nelson will be off to Christchurch next week to take on Lincoln Combined.

"We will just keep building and win as many as we can."

Jono credited the Waimea team who could have easily dropped their heads facing a 42-0 deficit.

"They are a good young side, and they are just going to get better and better.”

Alex Honey was a standout for Waimea, scoring a superb solo try and setting up another.

“It’s always good to get a try against one of the top teams in the competition.”

The young playmaker lauded his side’s effort against the much larger Nelson side.

“We stuck in throughout the game after they put a lot of points on us at the start, so really proud of the boys how they didn’t give up.”

Alex says the will take plenty of confidence into their remaining matches.

“We have got a couple of home games coming up and we have a really good community that comes and backs us with the five schools that the boys come from.”

Nelson skipper Ollie Inch opened the scoring as he finished off a slick backline move before Thornalley plucked an intercept from Tony Sproul’s lineout pass and streaked 50 metres to go in under the bar.

Nic Sauira went in next, Nelson’s third in the opening ten minutes, with the fullback showing his fleet footwork to evade three Waimea defenders.

Jake Neal was shown a yellow card for a professional foul after he illegally played the ball on the ground with Nelson hot on attack.

The visitors took immediate advantage with Luc Waterman-Thomas producing a deft offload for Reegan Lawton to waltz in for the bonus point try.

Sauira went in for his second shortly after before a Hunter Leppien back flick to locking partner Joseph Domoni gave Nelson its sixth and a 42-0 halftime lead.

Waimea would have its moment just after the break, Alex Honey breaking the line and stepping the cover to score a brilliant solo try.

Nelson struck back immediately though flanker Jake Burridge who finished off some superb handling from the college forwards.

Honey set up a second for the hosts with another dazzling run before linking with winger Daniel Hawley but Leppien brought up the half century with a well-deserved try after Cooper Grant’s line break

Irvine capped his stellar game with a try assist for replacement Tyler Blake but it Was Waimea who had the final say, lock Lawson Inglis scoring from a lineout move to tie the second half scores at 21-all.

Scorers:

Nelson 63 (Sauira 2, Inch, Thornalley, Lawton, Domoni, Burridge, Leppien, Blake, tries, Lawton, 6 cons, Grant 3 cons)

Waimea 21 (Honey, Hawley, Inglis, tries, Honey 3 cons)