The 1st XV had a challenging assignment on Saturday, beating Feilding High School in Feilding. Feilding are a strong rugby school (the current All Blacks squad has three Feilding old boys in it) and have had some impressive results so far this season. With the Rick Francis Memorial Shield (the Ranfurly Shield of the CNI competition) on the line the boys knew they were in for a hard game and so it proved. The game started in even fashion with no side dominating. After 10mins Feilding kicked a penalty to make it 3-0. As the half continued St Paul’s started to get more and more into the game and were rewarded with a smart try to the impressive Connor Collins, the result of a tap and go. At half time we had a slender lead but had much work to do
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We made a pleasing start to the second half with Della Neli dotting down. After this Feilding launched attack after attack and they managed to score with 15mins left to set up an exciting finish. With only a few minutes remaining though, Callum Brown scored after a poor pass from a Feilding scrum and we took the game out of Feilding’s reach. Final score a 19-8 win to St Paul’s.
Winning away from home is never easy and the boys should be pleased with their efforts.
