The 1st XV travelled over to Tauranga knowing that a win would guarantee us a spot in the Chiefs Cup final for the first time. Unfortunately we got off to a poor start struggling to get any ball as Tauranga launched attack after attack with Tauranga’s greater physicality proving hard to defend against. The boys never gave up however, and at half time we were only trailing 13-3 which was a commendable effort seeing how little ball we had had.
The boys got off to a great start in the second half with Jackson Morgan crashing over and Ferg Burke converting to close the gap to 13-10. Just as we were gaining momentum we made a
couple of crucial mistakes and struggled to get out of our half. With 10mins to play the score was
19-10 and we were in danger of not reaching the final. A penalty to Ferg Burke closed the gap to six points and when the game finished we had qualified for the final as a result of gaining a bonus point by losing by less than seven.
While it was disappointing to lose the boys should be proud of their efforts to qualify for the Chiefs Cup final against arch rivals Hamilton Boys.
