Pre Season #2 : Thames Valley v North Harbour B

😤 Pre Season #2
Thames Valley v North Harbour B
Waitakaruru International Stadium, Waitakaruru
From a hypothermic Tighthead Ted

Jeez, I don’t think it’s ever been this cold at Waitakaruru International Stadium, the wind must have been blowing straight up the country from Invercargill. Even me old mate Mitch thought it was colder than a kiss from the mother in law. But if that weather causes a performance like this from my beloved Swampies, long may this cold snap continue.

After last week’s try fest, where defence looked as if it was optional, this week was a whole nother kettle of fish. To a man, the Valley tackled like demons. Anything that moved, and a lot of things that didn’t, was dropped by the men in gold as they defended against a mountain of possession. It looked ominous in the opening minutes though, as Harbour from the kickoff swung straight onto the attack, sweeping the length of the field with ease, before striking the Berlin Wall that Valley had cunningly built 5 metres out from their own line. Wave after wave of attack was stopped, the larger Harbour forward unable to break the will, or the bodies of the local lads.

After holding the Harbour side out, the Swampies, in about their only foray into the opposition half secured a penalty, kicked for the corner, won the lineout and dotted down out wide for the five pointer to hooker Oneone Faafou. Converted from out wide by Quinn Collard. Finally, with time up on the clock, the Valley defence was finally broken out wide, after about 600 phases were defended in close. A fine conversion from out wide saw the sides head in for tea and scones locked up at seven apiece.

Valley enjoyed a fairer share of the ball in the second half, and started to dent the visitors defence out wide with some nice running from the double digit boys. The subs bench also made a solid impact, none more so than Hooker Josh Tye, who looks to be well over his nasty hamstring tear from the club season. Two tries, and one storming run dragging half the Harbour tacklers along for the ride were highlights of this old front rowers day. These two tries were preceded by Fletcher Morgan dotting down under the posts after another attacking five metre lineout.
The defence did not slack off at all either, there were some huge tackles, one in the first half that reverberated throughout the ground, a crunching effort that put a stake into the ground for the match, and a benchmark the season. With the score at 28-7, and time up on the clock, Valley were finally beaten out wide again, and Harbour scored their second of the match, with another quality conversion from wide.

The Valley coaching staff must be happy with the improvement in a week, a defence that leaked 49 points seven days ago, stonewalled a first division provinces second XV to just two tries, one a late consolation after the match was decided. To be fair to the Harbour side though, and THT is always fair, it was a solid hit out for them after just two training sessions. The mighty Swampies, with a match under their belt, and three weeks of training, were a touch more battle hardened and cohesive. But at the end of the day, you only play what gets put in front of you, and the history books will show in the years to come, Thames Valley 28, North Harbour B 14.

The low numbers performed well against a much larger pack, while the scrum did creak at times, it still did more than enough to create a solid platform when needed. The lineout also had a few hiccups, but the lineout drive try was a pearler, but the pack also messed up a couple in the second spell – while almost scoring one from fifteen metres out – the big boys getting excited when the tryline was within sniffing distance. The back division, once they started getting some pill in the second spell, showed they were also dangerous. Some classy, well timed passes let the pace men stretch their legs in the wide open spaces, with the pack providing them with some quality ball, they have the potential to cause some real havoc through the Heartland.
Next week sees a training day at Chiefs HQ in Hamilton, not a bad idea as there will be plenty of bruised bodies after this defensive effort, and then next week sees the start of the Heartland season against the might of Wairarapa Bush in Masterton.

Thames Valley 28 (O FaaFou, F Morgan, J Tye 2 tries; Q Collard 1, Morgan 3 conversions)
beat North Harbour B 14 (2 tries; 2 conversions)
HT 7-7.

Disclaimer: All opinions expressed in this article are those of international man of mystery Tighthead Ted and of THT alone, In no way (NO WAY), are they indicative or expressing the views or thoughts of the Thames Valley Rugby Union and or the employees of the TVRU. So if you get upset, tough cookies, please don’t flood the TVRU inbox with complaints, as they already think they’re underpaid and overworked. Or is that overpaid and underworked, I can never remember… 😂