Ash Hutt 1st XV. Photo supplied. Vaughan Ward breaks down an important victory for the AshHutt Girls 1st XV on Wednesday night against Roncalli College.

The AshHutt Girls 1st XV rugby side have earned the right to play off for third and fourth in the Aoraki competition, after a strong victory against Roncalli this week.

The side were up against it after their match against Geraldine the week earlier had been called off and the subsequent two points, from a match they expected to gain full points from, left them needing to win on Wednesday night at Hampstead.

The game was initially meant to be played in Methven, but Roncalli were unwilling to travel that far.

Ashhutt Girls had a dream start, with a perfectly timed and error-free warm-up, team focus in check, everyone was positive and looking forward to kick-off.

The kick-off proved difficult to handle for AshHutt looking directly into the sun, but they were fortunate enough to come away with a lineout.

That opened the opportunity to start a long period of possession, with three excellent tries being scored early, to Margret Eli, Megan Hurley and Madison Trusler/Clark.

Unfortunately, that was the end of the game for Megan Hurley, who suffered a serious knee injury.

Two late tries to Roncalli in the first half brought them back into contention, with the AshHutt team leading 17-12 at the break.

Further possession and territory from the pumped AshHutt squad kept Roncalli in their own half for the first 15 minutes of the second half. That provided scoring opportunities for sisters Roi and Rangi Makutu in mid-field.

Fatigue sparked yet another strong comeback from Roncalli, when holes appeared in the AshHutt defence line around the breakdown.

Clever restart kicks from Roi Makutu forced errors from Roncalli, and again AshHutt were able to score points from errors, with an awesome piece of individual work from ever reliable Trusler-Clark to score midway through the second half.

With the score at 34-22 to AshHutt, and with less than 10 minutes to go, another defensive breach saw Roncalli break through and seem certain to score again, except for the excellent cover defence from both Roi Makutu and Naumai Terekia forcing another handling error from Roncalli.

Late possession from AshHutt, great handling, and relentless phase play allowed Madison Trusler-Clark to cross the line for her third try of the night.

Roncalli were determined to finish well and crossed the line again in the same fashion to close out the scoring.

Final score AshHutt 39 Roncalli 29.

The side now plays off for third and fourth next Wednesday in Timaru against Waitaki and St Kevin’s, with all eyes fixed on a strong finish to the season.

© The Ashburton Guardian - 21 August 2020