While meteorologists had a slightly off weekend in Howick, the same can’t be said for the Hornets‘ Premier sides, as this past weekend at Paparoa Park fans cheered on watching the home sides go three from three in their respective 1st division competitions.
Both the men’s Reserve grade, and the Hornets Fox Premiers were convincing on the scoreboard after 80 minutes, each winning by 20 points against the Manurewa Marlins on Saturday, 34-14 and 38-18 respectively.
The first half of the Premiers was a tight contest with both sides playing well with a 16-14 score to Howick at the break. In the second half the Hornets got rolling, scoring three tries back-to-back which saw the momentum of the game completely shift into the home side’s favour.
Howick’s strength came up front with top performers Tahi Baggaley and Tayhler Paora keeping the team on the front foot. Fullback Alan Niulevu scored a double to help his team get going in the second 40.
While these are very welcome scorelines for the club, both teams will know the margins could have been greater if not for a couple of basic errors on both sides of the ball at times, errors I’ve no doubt will be identified and corrected this week at training by head coaches Blake Ewe and Ruka Loza.
Sunday at 1pm, it was the Premier Women’s turn to entertain.
Playing a very determined Otahuhu Leopards side, Howick’s premier women [affectionately known as the ‘Nets’] , left it till the last play to seal a game that truly had it all.
‘Nets dummy half Zayde Sarah-Baldwin was breaking the line at will on the back of some fast play-the-balls achieved by her team mates.
This proved decisive in the end, with Sarah-Baldwin stepping her way through the defence one last time, and going 40 metres to score under the posts, steal the win and notch up a hat-trick of tries at the same time.
Final score ‘Nets 40 v Leopards 36.
Sunday June 19, Paparoa Park
Masters of Rugby League +35s modual doubles as the curtain raiser to Howick Hornets Premier women v Manurewa Marlins.
Curtain raisers – Four entertaining masters games from 11am, with our own champion Howick Hornets Masters kicking things off on field 1.
Main game – ‘Nets v Marlins 2:30
