It was tough going for the Mid Canterbury Combined side against Nelson College. Photo supplied.It was more than just a severe reality check that Mid Canterbury Combined received in its UC Championship opener at the weekend.

There are some walking wounded among a battered Combined squad, after Nelson College ran riot in their opening UC Championship matchup in Nelson.

The defending UC champions ran in 13 tries during a 75-3 rout, as Nelson again look to set the benchmark during the secondary school competition.

Head coach Shane Enright said it was a significant step up with 16 of the 22 Combined players making UC debuts.

“It really showed the difference in standard from what most of the lads had been playing last year U16 Rugby for the Mid Canterbury club teams in the Ellesmere competition,” he said.

Combined made a good fist of things during the opening exchanges, with Nelson up 5-3 after 10 minutes.

However a sole penalty off the boot of Sam Ree were the only points Combined registered.

Mistakes then began to creep into Combined’s game which Nelson punished as the home team raced out to a 27-3 lead by the break.

“We really struggled and started to fall off our tackles, and our lack of fitness really started to hit home with quite a few of the players,” Enright said.

The visitors were not helped by a rotten run of injuries during the game.

Combined lost midfielder Aiden Bennett to a leg injury midway through the first half, before Otto Mareko also went down right on half-time.

Further injuries in the second half to Mark Gabriel and Christian Thompson, the latter to a head knock which will keep him out of action for at least three weeks, compounded the misery for Combined.

“(Thompson) is a huge loss to the team, but it gives others the chance to step up and own that number 2 jersey,” Enright said.

Nelson did not take the foot off the gas after halftime and added another 48 points to complete proceedings.

Although Thompson will miss the best part of a month’s rugby, Bennett, Gabriel and Mareko will have to prove their fitness for this weekend’s home game against Waimea Combined.

The side are also still without skipper and Fijian import Michael Hennings, who suffered a knee injury in the pre-season game against Timaru Boys’ High.

Hennings was expected to travel to Christchurch yesterday for an MRI scan.

By Adam Burns © The Ashburton Guardian - 23 June 2020