AshHutt girls’ rugby coach Grant Elvines had just one word to sum up his side’s latest loss in the Aoraki secondary schools girls’ rugby competition, and that was frustration.

It was the most appropriate word to sum up his side’s 49-24 loss to Timaru Girls’ High School (TGHS) at Celtic on Wednesday evening, Elvines said.

TGHS came to town as the competition’s top-of-the-table side, and they showed why they are where they are, pouncing every time the AshHutt girls made a mistake and scoring.

The combination Ashburton College and Mount Hutt College side simply gave away too much ball, and every time they did it cost them both when it came to focus, and points on the board.

Elvines said that in defence AshHutt produced a number of periods of play where he thought they might have been able to produce a comeback, but TGHS were quick to snuff out any opportunities that AshHutt might have created.

“The forwards ran with a lot of endeavour and the backs threw it about a bit, but we were guilty of too many basic errors, and of missing far too many tackles,” Elvines said.

But, the AshHutt girls did manage to put together four pretty good tries to Emma Rollinson, Tara Mellish, and two to Madison Trusler-Clark.

“Ultimately though, we got outplayed, and the final score of 49-24 was a fair indication of the game,” Elvines said.

The girls’ competition will now be taking a break for two weeks for the school holidays.

© The Ashburton Guardian - 6 July 2019

When it returns on July 24 AshHutt will be off to Timaru for a clash with Waitaki Girls’ High School, the team currently bottom of the table without a win to their names.

Meanwhile, that’s the position the Mid Canterbury Combined boys’ first XV find themselves in today, still bottom of the table in the Crusaders region secondary schools’ rugby competition, the UC Championship.

They are heading off to Christchurch today looking to change that, but their opposition this week – Shirley Boys’ High School – are likely to pose another tough challenge.

The Shirley boys are currently sitting in 10th spot on the table with three wins from their nine games.

The UC Championship will also take a break over the holidays, and return on July 27 when Mid Canterbury Combined will again be on the road, this time to Rangiora High School, a team sixth on the table heading into this round.

Fotu Hala puts up a three-pointer in Ashburton College’s victory over Burnside High School in the Thomson Trophy on Tuesday night. Photo Erin TaskerThe Ashburton College A basketball side have bounced back from a difficult loss last week to record a strong victory against Burnside High School 92-69 on Tuesday night.

Playing in the Oxford Street Stadium, AshColl started off with a man-to-man defence and whilst it was initially effective Burnside were able to counter well.

They were also able to get in too many second shots as College were guilty of not boxing out efficiently.

Offensively College were able to find the hoop as Burnside did not cover the outside shots, and the hosts were able to take a 22-19 lead.

In the second quarter, College went back to a 2-3 zone which allowed them to initiate their fast break.

The home-side defence began working well as a unit, pressuring the ball and making the Burnside players force either the shot or the pass.

When Burnside changed up their defence, firstly to a zone press, it initially worked, however College were able to break it with ease.

When they matched up, College were able to utilise the pick and roll aspect of their offence and scored some easy points.

Burnside kept working hard but College continued to extend their lead to 48-39 at the break.

The third quarter of the game saw College again being able to drive to the basket through the pick and roll and getting to the foul line.

Their zone defence effectively shut down the Burnside offence as they struggled to get any momentum.

There were plenty of turnovers for the College boys to convert into easy layups as they stretched their lead to 72-55.

The fourth quarter was more of the same as College’s momentum continued as once again they were able to outscore the Burnside team running out 92-69 winners.

Coach Brian Kerr was able to play his entire bench throughout the game, which proved a profitable move.

William Joyce got some good minutes in and highlighted his undoubted ability by dropping four 3-pointers in his 16 point display.

Quinn Ritchie top scoring with 31 points (six 3-pointers) leading the way with another good all round performance.

Fotu Hala with 12 points was strong on the defensive boards and was able to initiate a lot of the fast breaks that were damaging to Burnside.

Riley Sa also added 10 points in a tidy display.

Kerr said it was a good result after the disappointment of last week’s loss.

© The Ashburton Guardian - 4 July 2019

Former Ashburton College head boy Lachie Davidson and Ben McColgan, egg-throwing champions of the world. Photo supplied.Ashburton has another world champion flying the New Zealand flag on the world stage, this time in egg throwing.

Former Ashburton College head boy Lachie Davidson and his team-mate Ben McColgan finished first at the World Egg Throwing Championships in the United Kingdom in the early hours of Monday morning (NZ time).

The pair successfully threw the egg 60m, with Davidson doing the throwing and McColgan, a wicket-keeper, the catching.

The pair qualified for the event after finishing second at the New Zealand Rural Games after only initially entering the have-a-go competition.

“We were doing the fencing and stuff and hadn’t even thought about the egg throwing, but we won the have-a-go section and ended up in the nationals which was full of cricket players and baseball players,” Davidson said before the trip to the United Kingdom.

The pair that won the national title chose not to take up the offer of a free trip to the world championships, handing it to Davidson and McColgan.

The flights to the event in England were sponsored by a travel company and Davidson said Massey University has jumped on-board, sponsoring their team outfits, proudly showing off their name, the Yolk Ferns.

Prior to the competition, Davidson said their goal was to head over and give it a good crack and have a bit of fun.

By Jaime Pitt-MacKay © The Ashburton Guardian - 2 July 2019