From zero to 100 for Kahurangi

While the ground might still be as hard as bricks, there was a sense of finals football in the air as Kahurangi kicked off their season.

Whether it was the fact that the John Goodman Trophy was on the line, or the intense rivalry, the two Tasman Trophy titans went down to the wire in a tough loss 20-23 for Kahurangi.

In other results, Marist beat Moutere 45-10, Nelson lost to Stoke 45-19, and Waimea Old Boys had a bye.

After dominating the 40 minutes, a late yellow card saw Central claw their way back into the game on the stroke of halftime.

Lock Henry Powell crossed the line in the corner after catching the defensive off guard after Central passed the ball out wide from a quick tap, going against the early run of play.

Kahurangi was in control early, with the Central lineout in strife and struggling at scrum time.

And they were rewarded with two tries, the first a thunderous run through a gap and then the secondary defenders by lock Hunter Leppien. The second, a fortunate bounce of the ball at ruck time, saw a linebreak before passes into space for halfback Hayden Crapper to score.

But, with Mako centurion hooker Quentin MacDonald amongst the Central halftime changes, the tide started to turn as they went into the second 40 minutes down 10-7.

Strong field position and prolonged possession saw lock Henry Powell score to take the lead before captain Mitchell Smith dotted over a penalty to extend their lead to 10-18.

However, the home side bounced back with a penalty of their own before centre Jake Cresswell showed his class with a linebreak and a pressuring kick into space to give his team the field position to capitalise.

The Kahurangi kick return saw hard-running number 8 East Timor Viliamu put into space and given the momentum to run through several would-be tacklers and run the ball around to give his kicker a better angle and the lead.

In a game that came down to the final play, Kahurangi would miss a chance to extend their advantage to five points with a penalty that hit the uprights.

But in the back-to-back championship-winning mentality, Central would turn the tide in the final minutes with innumerable phases of attack that finally wilted the defiant Kahurangi defence as Mausia Papani took the ball from the back of the ruck and muscled it over the line.

After losing the John Goodman Trophy to Kahurangi three years ago, it will return over the Whangamoas with Central after a tough game of early season rugby.

Kahurangi captain Josh Te Hira couldn’t emphasise how proud he was of his team in what was their opening game of the year after no preseason matches.

“It’s hard to put it into words. There was a lack of connection in our first game in closing it out. Just those little moments.

“There’s a lot of good things to pull from the game. We look really strong.”

Josh says they knew it would be a battle against Central, saying there’s a lot of history.

“It was always going to come down to the wire.”

Central’s captain agreed, with Mitchell saying they had struggled early after a big trip over.

“A wins a win. It always seems to be a good contest with Kahurangi.

“The experience of Quinn of the bench, it really settled the nerves.”

He was also impressed with centre Jake Cresswell for his cool head under pressure.

"And young number seven, Jack Kelly. . . he was tackling that big number 8 (East Timor) all day."