Wellington 50 Men vs Auckland 50 Men – 11.40am Field 8
A warm and sunny morning, a light breeze, and a soft field set the scene for a top game.
Both teams start the half with full on attack and defence that keeps both teams scoreless for 5 minutes.
Andy Clark from Wellington opens the scoring by catching the Auckland middles offside 1-0 Auckland reply with John Scully setting up Stevie Kem who runs a nice link line. 1-1
The next 5 minutes returns to a arm wrestle until Wellington’s Robert Logan (7) scoops through from link to hit Maihi Huges (14) hitting a middle line at blistering pace. 2-1 Wellington
Auckland replies with two opportunities to score but are not scored due to an out of character drop ball on the line with no defender in sight and a try saving dive by Andy Clarke.
With the half-time hooter sounding, Auckland has one last play to claw back a touchdown. John Scully redeems (his dropped touchdown) by carving the defence line on the 5 metre to then pass long to John Mateo (10) to score in the corner. 2-2 half-time score
Auckland start the second half with an organised move which sees play maker John Scully finish with a dump and split (also known as a ’quickie’). 3-2 Auckland
Wellington reply with some uncle ‘Benji’ magic from John Marshall stepping an Auckland link and strolling over to score due to Auckland not applying the shut defence. 3-3
2 quick touchdowns from Sam Teraitua and John Mateo see Auckland take control of the half. 3-5 Auckland
Robert Logan brings Wellington back with a marvellous 20 metre long ball to winger Kevin Francis 4-5 Auckland
Scully comes back on to add a blow to Wellington’s worries by scoring another quickie… someone check his birth certificate as he is playing like an opens or 30s player! 4-6 Auckland.
Auckland is back in control with 3 minutes left in the game and 2 touchdowns up. Auckland are about to put a nail in the coffin on the 5 metre line by passing a long ball wide to take a scoring opportunity but ... Tall man Kevin Francis intercepts and runs 40 metres with 3 Auckland players chasing. Francis sees speedster Andy Clark and passes to him wide to seal the touchdown.
Wellington decides to chuck everything they have at Auckland for the last 2 minutes. 2 minutes runs out and the hooter then sounds which leaves Wellington with one more play. With every player, coach, manager and spectator yelling ‘GO’, ‘COME ON’, ‘DEFENCE’ or something similar…. Wellington leaps into action. After 14 passes, 4 late cuts, and 2 wraps from half way, Raymond Davey Scores a well deserved Touchdown in the corner. 6-6 Fulltime
Summary
Auckland – Auckland is well structured and has a weapon called John Scully. If this recipe continues they will be hard to beat. MVP – John Scully
Wellington – Have enough experience tools to go further if they get their game plan right. MVP - Kevin Francis
Last Modified on 25/02/2013 21:23