The Ponsonby Premiers hold the top spot on the points table in the Alan McEvoy Trophy competition after five rounds, but were given a thorough workout last Saturday afternoon by College Rifles. Ponsonby were made to work hard for the victory, and displayed some true character and temperament, together with a magnificent defensive effort, and emerged the winners by 14-12 after leading by 7-0 at the halftime break.

The outcome will surely give the Ponsonby plenty to think about after they spent 85 minutes battling a belligerent and sometimes aggressive opposition, and were forced to accept a very lopsided penalty and free-kick count against them. College Rifles clearly wanted to make a statement in this match, and their performance suggests that they could well be amongst the top four sides that will do battle for the Gallaher Shield in a few week’s time.

Ponsonby started very strongly, showing their intent, and were unlucky not to score in the opening moments, but dropped passes and turnovers prevented them from crossing the line.

College Rifles were the recipients of several penalties in the opening quarter, and one attempt at the posts from right in front in that period by first five Zarn Sullivan, should have opened their account, but the kick drifted wide.

Ponsonby tried many options to break the solid visitors defence, and on occasions when they had an overlap they would throw long cut-out passes, but these always attracted the attention of the vigilant officials, and potential scoring movements would not come to fruition.

In the 23rd minute of the half Rifles had another penalty attempt at goal, also from a handy position, but this drifted away.  

Ponsonby’s first penalty was awarded to them in the 27th minute, following a careless high tackle on winger Danny Tusitala. The penalty was kicked to touch by John Cooper, and Ponsonby formed their lineout just eight metres from the College Rifles line. The throw to the lineout was long, and the visitors were surprised at the miscommunication amongst the Ponsonby forwards, but gladly accepted possession and they cleared. Still deep inside the Rifles territory, Ponsonby launched an attack on their opposites. A good burst by Tili Puloka, with support from Cooper, put Tusitala over in the corner. However some intervention by the assistant referee saw the try disallowed, judging that Tusitala was out in touch. Rifles were elated as they were causing endless trouble for the current club champions. Rifles then fed a lineout five metres from their line, only to have Jamie Lane steal it. The ball went to ground, and a clever pass from Pele Cowley went to Paul Roache on the charge, and he scored alongside the posts. Cooper then converted and Ponsonby had drawn first blood.

Ponsonby were not getting the fundamentals right and basic things such as forward passes and conceding turnovers were starting to haunt them, plus penalties were mounting.

In the dying moments of the half the Ponsonby side were called upon to repel assault after assault from the College Rifles side. This was the first occasion in the half that College Rifles had been close to the Ponsonby line. The blue and blacks were forced to defend their line gallantly for several minutes, and they were not prepared to let the visitors through. Ponsonby’s stamina and resistance won the battle and they eventually were awarded a penalty just metres from their line. After 45 minutes play, the referee called halftime.

Ponsonby carried a slender 7-0 lead into the halftime break, but would have been buoyed by their tremendous defensive effort.

College Rifles started the second spell strongly, just as Ponsonby had done so in the first. In just the third minute of the half they looked to have the Ponsonby defence stretched, however a vital pass was dropped by them. The vigilant Rocky Khan was on hand to scoop up the loose ball, and as he had done so often in Sevens Rugby he set off on a 70 metre dash toward the tryline. Khan had three defenders in pursuit, and with just a few metres to run it appeared that he was going to be mowed down. He cleverly offloaded to the supporting Tusitala, who headed toward the left hand corner, but he too was in danger of being run down, so he stepped back inside his defender and scored midway between the corner flag and the posts. Cooper added the extra two points, and Ponsonby now had a seemingly comfortable 14-0 lead.

The Ponsonby lead was short-lived as they were powerless to prevent the visitors from scoring a seven pointer in the 50th minute.

College Rifles battled away, and tested Ponsonby’s defence and endurance, and before long they found a way through again, and scored a try, which they could not convert.

To compound matters for Ponsonby, after the College Rifles try was awarded, Waimana Riedlinger-Kapa was shown a yellow card and became a match spectator for the next ten minutes. Fortunately during the period that Ponsonby were a man short they kept their line in tact.

 Ponsonby successfully defended their territory for the remainder of the match, and will happily accept the competition points. They will lament the missed opportunities and the basic errors, but will take a lot of confidence from their defensive effort as they are one step closer to the fast approaching finals. They will now focus on the resurgent Grammar-TEC team, who Ponsonby will play next Saturday afternoon.

TMH230619

Article added: Sunday 23 June 2019