For about five minutes Cranbrook had the possession and most of the territory. Then Hatton Ward took a quick tap penalty and ran 40m to score under the posts. It looked like a quick opportunist try against the run of play. But then Trinity started to get some ball. The year 10 prop broke tackles and made good yards as did 8 (I think) Nuilala. Hatton Ward converted two more tries, one from the touch line, for 21-0. Cranbrook played a pretty unimaginative game, and defaulted to giving the ball to AhColt. He got through a ton of work but Trinity defended tenaciously and he never actually broke the line (although he certainly bent it).
The second half was a different story. Cranbrook had almost all the ball and almost all the game was played in Trinity's half. A try in the corner made it 21-5. A try in the opposite corner, well converted, made it 21-12. AhColt rumbled over from very short range, close to the posts: 21-19. But after that Trinity got their hands on just enough ball to get some territory. Cranbrook tried to run from deep and knocked on. From the scrum, the ball was punted into touch, and that was it.
In the end, the difference was that Trinity were relentless in defence, missing almost no one-on-one tackles, while Cranbrook were pretty one-dimensional in attack. Still, a good quality, entertaining game. Best for Trinity were 3, 8 and 9 - for Cranbrook, 3.
No program at Cranbrook, so I don't know many names. The CAS website says that Ah Colt, Lance Tovio and Stefan Ferster scored for Cranbrook, with Ferseter converting twice. Also, for some reason, the scoreboard clock wasn't in use for the 1st V game, although it was used for the seconds. Odd.
I saw the two CAS selectors leaving just as the game ended. They can't, on today's form, pick Patterson ahead of Hatton-Ward for the 9 spot. AhColt can't have done his chances any harm, and Nuilala gave himself every chance of being in the squad somewhere.