Johnny Galloway passes from the scrum. He had a strong game on his return from injury. They foraged voraciously at breakdowns in the second half even when Varsity commanded most of the ball and ground away with their hefty scrum. Varsity s backline had only wing Korie Winters lively on attack and their defence, badly missing injured midfielder Hamish Northcott, was breached too easily by Turbos Stewart Cruden, James Tofa and Andre Taylor to set up two early tries. COB s only failing was average line kicking. COB coach Bryan Matenga said when he heard there had been a falling out at Feilding, where Taylor had been coaching, he invited him back to his old club, as a player.
Matenga was expecting it to be a big clash, and he said College had to keep doing what they had been doing and keep their discipline. His job will be helped this weekend by the return of backs Cyrus Baker and Awatere Kiwara from injury this week, and Patrick Tafili-Reid who has been unavailable the past two weeks. Manawatū Turbos flanker Johnny Galloway should be back from injury this week too. Back Andrew McDougall returned from tonsillitis last week and lock Massimo Kirikiri returned from concussion last week. It offsets the loss of suspended forwards Cory Purton, Kodie Albert-Papuni and Hamuera Burn, as well as loosie Elyjah Crosswell, who is with the New Zealand Barbarians under-20s this week playing against the Super Rugby under-20 teams in Taupō.
There were also yellow cards for Dane Whale (COB), Ben Stephens (COB) and Chase Jordan (Freyberg) for infringing at the breakdown. Freyberg were up for it in parts and put COB under pressure, with standout No 8 Jekope Kitou making big runs up the middle and getting Freys on the front foot. College held the ball for longer periods, taking advantage of any Freyberg mistake, with first five-eighth Stewart Cruden finding gaps. Their scrum was a weapon and won them a penalty try. Loose forwards Jared Goodson, who was a regular lineout target, and Elyjah Crosswell got stuck into everything. Pacey Freyberg wing Varcon King showed a clean pair of heels again and scored two tries, while midfielder Josh Maoate and hard-working openside flanker Michael Halutuituia had strong games.