11-05-2025
Excelsior pack paves way for win
Rugby is an 80-minute game and Excelsior's latest Citizens Shield win proved that.
They beat Old Boys 47-26 on Saturday after trailing for almost the entire game.
The opening 20 minutes was all Old Boys.
They came charging out of the gates to score three tries and open a 19-0 lead.
An intercept try to Oli Knopp, a regular member of the backline who was playing blindside flanker, started to turn the tide Excelsior's way.
A dominant scrum 5m out from the line was the catalyst for their second try but Old Boys hit back through halfback Tini Feke to lead 26-12 at the break.
This was when Blues really kicked in to gear.
Their scrum earned them numerous penalties, which they kicked to the corner and got into the 22m.
Relentless attack eventually resulted in Tevita Vonotabua crashing over.
During another trip to the 22m, a scrum penalty was taken quickly by Seva Druma who dotted down, and Josh Phipps drilled the conversion to tie it up.
With just over 10 minutes to go, a 50-22 by Tyron Davies gave them an attacking lineout.
They were then able to spin it wide and Vonotabua scored again to give Blues their first lead of the game.
They were in again less than five minutes later after breakdown turnover unleashed a counterattack.
Shifting the ball wide, Druma gassed his defender on the outside and bagged his second.
A third to Vonotabua was the cherry on top of an extremely impressive second half.
Blues' entire front row fronted up in a big way.
Their dominant scrum laid the platform for Vonotabua, Matia Qiolevu and Druma to work their magic out wide.
Athletic Marist remain on top of the table after they dispatched Kurow 49-29.
It was the perfect way for Epineri Logavatu to celebrate his 50th game for the club. The big lock even got the chance to kick a conversion to mark the occasion.
In the final game of the round, Valley ran in 14 tries to rout Maheno 80-26.
The green and blacks kept it close in the first half, trailing by just one at the break.
Unfortunately for them, the floodgates opened in the second half in a clinical display from Valley.
