Mid Canterbury Combined took on St Andrew’s College in Methven on Saturday. Photo supplied,They stuck with them for the first half, but in the end the St Andrew’s College 1st XV proved too slick for Mid Canterbury Combined in Methven on Saturday.

It was Mid Canterbury Combined’s last pre-season hit-out before the Crusaders region’s secondary school rugby competition – the UC Championship – gets under way and while the scoreboard didn’t make good reading at 62-7, it was far from all bad in the eyes of the side’s coaches.

Brent Middleton, Andrew Morgan and Warren Donald are charged with taking the side, which is a combination of Mid Canterbury’s two high schools – Ashburton College and Mount Hutt College – through this season, and they’re happy with where their young charges are at.

Mid Canterbury Combined has played three pre-season games and while they lost to St Andrew’s and Lincoln, they beat Waitaki Boys’ High School in Oamaru last weekend and Middleton said that result was a huge confidence boost. Heading to the Methven Domain to play St Andrew’s College on Saturday, Middleton said they knew they were in for a right challenge and that’s what they got.

But they managed to stick with the Christchurch side in the first half though, only trailing 19-7.

While it blew out a bit in the second half, Middleton said his side let in a few soft tries that a couple of basic, easy-to-fix, defensive manoeuvres would have stopped. So his players know what they need to work on.

“It was probably good to come up against quality opposition, to know what we are going to be facing,” Middleton said.

“As much as you could look at it and say, gee, they got beaten 62-7, at this stage with what they showed in the first half and how they are working as a unit, I think they are already well ahead of where they were at this point last season.”

Mid Canterbury Combined didn’t win a game last season, but did stay with some much bigger schools for large chunks of games – like they did against St Andrew’s College on Saturday.

Through all of last season and on Saturday, Mid Canterbury’s players kept their heads held high and didn’t give up, and their coaching team know that they’ll continue like that through the 2019 season – never giving up.

Mid Canterbury Combined’s players will have this weekend off before the UC Championships get under way on May 5, with a home game against Marlborough Boys’ High School awaiting the Mid Canterbury side in week one.

By Erin Tasker © The Ashburton Guardian - 23 April 2019