Nelson College kick off season in style

Nelson College’s first XV have kicked off their season in style with an impressive win over Christchurch Boys High School.

Having lost to CBHS in last year’s final, there was a sense of revenge as the home side convincingly turned the tables with a 30-19 win on the school’s front field.

In other results, a late converted try to St Thomas’ second XV saw Waimea Combined Barbarians settle for an away draw to start their campaign.

With fans packing the sidelines of Nelson College’s front field, the home side started with venom as they raced away to a 19-0 lead to take into half time.

But it wasn’t without hard graft, with the home side forced into some heroic goal line defence to keep the visitors scoreless.

At the other end, Nelson College capitalised on strong ball running, with lock Connor Hulme storming down the sideline and overtop of the defence to score in the corner.

Flanker Saumaki Saumaki looked like a man playing against boys with his two tries, the first a thunderous run through the middle of the park after a great short ball by first-five Harry Inch gave him the space to stretch his legs and get up to speed.

His second had the crowd on their feet in applause. Receiving a kick-off in the second half, Saumaki either fended off or ran through multiple defenders while also tip-toeing down the sideline to run away for the try unchallenged.

Christchurch Boys came back into the game in the second half with an early yellow card for repeated infractions, seeing prop Samuela Takapu take a ten-minute break on the bench.

With wave after wave of pressure, they crossed the line for their first try before adding another to bring the deficit back to five points with their tails up.

But, a smart penalty from Nelson College extended their lead before Saumaki’s thunderous run put the scoreline beyond doubt.

The visitors would score again to try and muster a comeback, but another Nelson College penalty put the score back out of grasp.

Captain Harry Inch says he was very happy to start the season on such a strong foot.

“I think that comes down to a few boys returning and the result [from last season] in the back of our heads.

“The energy since the start of the week has been massive.”

He was impressed with the courage of his teammates on defence, saying it was a marker of the work they’ve been putting in ahead of this season to keep the scoreline spotless through the first half.

“We know how capable they are of scoring points and we expected them to come straight back at us.

“I’m really proud of the boy’s effort. . . there was a lot of courage shown.”