It was another tough day at the office for the AshHutt rugby girls on Wednesday night, taking on Timaru Girls’ High School (TGHS) in Timaru, and going down 63-24.The Ashburton College and Mt Hutt College combined side were two tries down in the first couple of minutes, and although they struggled to get into the game from there, coach Grant Elvines said they were competitive most of the time.

Elvines said they were just guilty of missing too many tackles in defence, and not looking after the ball when we had worked so hard to get it, and TGHS pounced on every mistake.

The AshHutt forwards were dominant, with the three loosies Tyla Harraway, Megan Hurley and Aidan Elvines doing a lot of the donkey work in defence, and running strongly when they had the ball.

Second half subs Margret Eli and Grace Bleach also made some good metres with the ball, with Bleach again being rewarded with another two tries.

The backs had their chances as well, with Manee Mannex-Peters being solid on the wing, and Telita Manu making her fair share of tackles in the midfield.

Elvines said his side still had work to do, but it was reassuring to see improvement every time the girls take the field.

Due to next week’s teacher strike, AshHutt’s next game will be against Waitaki Girls at Alpine Stadium, Timaru on June 5.

Last week, AshHutt went down to Craighead 53-27, and the week before that they lost to Roncalli College 20-17.

© The Ashburton Guardian - 24 May 2019

Mid Canterbury Combined’s Taurangi Te Ara Daniel gets caught in a Christ’s College tackle during his side’s loss in the latest round of rugby’s UC Championships.Schoolboy rugby challenges in Canterbury don’t come much tougher than playing Christ’s College one week followed by Christchurch Boys’ High School (CBHS) the next.

But that’s the reality for Mid Canterbury Combined. On Saturday they played Christ’s College and lost 69-3 and this weekend they’re up against a CBHS side fresh off a shock loss to St Thomas of Canterbury on Saturday.

Mid Canterbury Combined coach Brent Middleton said his players knew they’d be up against it for the second week running when they host CBHS at the Methven Domain this weekend.

“They’re coming off a loss and the other motivation for them will be this game against us is their last game before they play their big college clash against Christ’s College, so they won’t be putting their B team out against us,” Middleton said.

The Christ’s College side that came to Ashburton on Saturday was coached by ex-All Black Rueben Thorne and they were just too big and too slick for the home side.

“We were proud of the way they went. They showed great heart and they didn’t give up and they kept trying,” Middleton said.

“It was a classic case of they were up against a massive forward pack – they were big kids and they were simply bigger and stronger than us.

“They scored some easy tries through their big, strong ball runners but our guys, they weren’t scared or anything like that, they were up competing with them, but it was just a case of the big guys were better than the little guys, really.”

Mid Canterbury will again be the smaller team on the field on Saturday when they play CBHS.

“We are going to be looking down both barrels of the shotgun I reckon,” Middleton said.

“They will be pretty annoyed at getting beaten by St Thomas last Saturday.”

Middleton said Mid Canterbury Combined had a game plan of how to compete with the big boys and were focused on getting the basics right so that when opportunities did arise, they could capitalise on them.

The problem against some of the big sides in the competition was getting your hands on decent ball, so you had opportunities to do something with it, Middleton said.

But, in rugby, the favourite didn’t always win. CBHS were favourites to beat St Thomas last weekend, just as Lincoln Combined would have been before their loss to Timaru’s Roncalli College on Saturday.

Every one out there had two arms, and two legs, and anything was possible, Middleton said.

Erin Tasker © The Ashburton Guardian - 23 May 2019

The Ashburton College A Basketball side were unable to convert their tag of favourite into a winning result as they suffered another defeat in the Thomson Trophy on Tuesday night.

Playing against a physically bigger Hillmorton side, the College lads were beaten 73-64 in match which featured twists and turns aplenty throughout the four quarters.

AshColl headed into the match favoured to win, based largely on two crushing defeats that Hillmorton had been handed to start their competition, but it was quickly established that the form lines meant for nothing as the match got going, with the physicality and man-to-man defence offered by Hillmorton troubling the young hoops.

Despite that Ashburton ended the first quarter with a 16-14 lead.

Easy points offered up in the second quarter turned the match on it’s head though and some missed opportunities and forced shooting left College chasing the match down by five at the half-time break.

A stronger third quarter, particularly in defence, put Ashburton back into the game and they went into the final quarter down by one point – 48-49.

A poor start in the final quarter didn’t help things as Hillmorton extended that one point lead to 11 quickly, but College fought back to close the gap only for their rivals to drain three, three-pointers to counter that before running out comfortable winners, 73-64.

Quinn Ritchie (11 points) and Sam Pearce (12 points) were solid on defence and Ben Jackson (11 points)  all had strong games for the AshColl side.

Coach Brian Kerr said that their rivals’ aggressive defence really rattled his side, which had a big impact on their offensive structures.

“Again we played a team that was physically bigger than we were and they made use of that especially when they crashed the boards.

“We got ourselves into foul trouble in 3 of the 4 quarters.

“It also tended to happen early on in the piece, which allowed Hillmorton time on the line,” he said.

While clearly disappointed with the defeat, Kerr said he was proud of the way they fought back in the third quarter and the result showed just how tough the competition can be.

© The Ashburton Guardian - 23 May 2019