Another weekend, another set of results!
Netball
Cancelled (That damned acid rain thing again)
Rugby
Kapiti College 7 – 20 Newlands College
Soccer
KCU “Hair on Rosetta” 3rds 4 – 1 KCU Masters 1 (Travis 1 Goal)
KCU Ladies cancelled – Ground unplayable.
The rugby was played in a pig sty. I have played sport in inclement weather in many locations and have NEVER seen that much mud!
I later learned that the school and its sports grounds are built on what was once a landfill. That explains the squishy, slippery, water-on-top nature of the pitch and the fact that people wear wellies with their trousers tucked in! My light blue jeans were a solid brown to about mid-shin, blending into a blue-brown to the knee! From the knee up, little brown “splatters” that ensure my warm, padded jacket will be paying a visit to the washing machine.
It sort of misty-drizzled throughout the game and I found myself zipping up and unzipping my jacket every so often, as the temperature was mild. Not cold enough to zip up, not warm enough to do without. The weather reports suggest a Southerly is approaching, so we are in for a cold spell for 2 or 3 days, commencing tonight sometime.
The game, as you can imagine, was less than a spectacle and the Newlands pack proved too strong, in both physique and attitude, vital in those conditions. They out-muscled our boys and managed to intimidate with some blatant nastiness with boot, knee, fist, head and mouth. While I do not seek to make excuses, as the Newlands team deserved the win, the score line flatters them a little. When a linesman raises his flag, it remains raised irrespective of the resultant play. The fact that the referee awarded a try as he had not noticed the flag raised, does not mean the linesman can drop the flag and pretend the play was not out.
With my little rant out of the way, Travis had a monster game! His defensive technique just gets better and better. Kapiti did a lot of defending on Saturday and Travis in particular stood out with some solid work in holding up the ball carrier over the line to deny Newlands a try. The other improvement is in his positional play. He is now aware of the box behind the fly-half from line-outs on his side of the field and fielded and cleared from their on a couple of occasions.
He reminds me so much of Pieter Rossouw and the way he played the game. Travis faced with a 3 on 1 overlap, in his own 25m area, almost made the intercept. He read it and played for it. Try saving and they would have struggled to stop him had he collected it cleanly rather than knocking on off the finger tips. He created a great opportunity from a little dribble through after beating his opposite number to a bobbling ball in the Newlands 25m, only for the Kapiti player in support to knock on the line trying to gather the ball to go over for the score.
So a disappointment for the team; and me! They are now off top spot, that honour now belonging to Newlands. On the bright side, no serious injuries and Travis is improving in leaps and bounds.
Saturday afternoon and a soccer game against our Masters 1 team. 4-1 Victory ensures we remain unbeaten and nice that Travis got a 15 minute run and capitalised with a left footed gaol. The team are in good spirits and the beer flowed pretty freely after the game. Des did not get a run. The game was called off to allow the pitch at Alex Moore Park to recover. It was probably quite cut-up and muddy. Des was relieved as she was not really in the mood and probably still a little tender from the 90 minutes she played last weekend. It was way too much for her and she forced her body through most of last week.
Netball was called off, so Sherrie took full advantage and we had a house full of teens for most of the weekend. Including a few who sat through the Super 14 final with me on Saturday night. Comment about the game?
While the visibility was poor, the Hurricanes continued use of the boot negated their strength! All season, they have manipulated the mid-field on attack, using Umaga and Nonu to set the ball up, bringing their back row into the game. Their kick, after kick, after kick of good possession meant that the Hurricanes 6, 7 and 8 were no longer playing as a unit and most of the time were in-between the game, with the missiles flying back and forth above their heads. In the end, when they needed to take the game to the Crusaders, they looked more like a team that could have scored a try or two and put the Crusaders under some pressure. As it turns out, Dan Carter kept his team calm and settled and took more and more control as the game wore on! Disappointed, but an entertaining season and a great night at Westpac Stadium for the semi-final win against the Waratahs. Go the ‘Canes!
Bring on the Tri-Nations………
We this weekend also finalised the lease for Melba! Melba is dark brown pony with a white blaze and a single, short, white sock on her right rear leg. She is 15 hands high and is quite a granny at 20 years young. Melba lives at the Raumati Pony Club and Meghan is her new “owner”. The pony club is a block from Meghan’s school, handy given that she needs to pop in every morning to remove covers and check feed and then every afternoon to do covers, feed and groom. She has free reign (pardon the pun) on when she rides and there are many options and routes for rides, including the beach and a number of tracks through bush in the area. Meghan put Melba through her paces on Saturday afternoon and gave her the thumbs up, saying she is very willing, nice and agile, intelligent and REALLY trustworthy. So, with us only picking up ongoing maintenance costs such as feed, grazing, shoeing, worming and an annual Pony Club membership, Meghan has her equestrian dreams partly satisfied. Now I need to find a saddle and some other kit, though Rosalee, the previous owner, is providing these to Meghan at no cost for a couple of months, so no pressure on forking out some serious dosh right now!
I am stoked about the deal and Meghan is all eagerness and excitement. Fantastic that she can the bus down their and do her own thing on weekends, especially when we have to run from netball to rugby to soccer.
Another week kicks off, wonder what will be in the letter next week…………