Newington 38 — Riverview 15
by Chris Ng
At the conclusion of the first half of this year’s home and away series, the points score after Round 5 was as follows: Scots 10 – Newington 8 – Riverview 6 – Joeys 4 – Kings 2 – Shore 0.
Newington had problems last week in the full back position so they shifted Australian Schools outside centre Milne, with limited success – he does not have a kicking game with new fly half Anderson causing the backs to move out one position.
The scoring
Riverview kicked off and Newington used their traditional ‘smash and grab’ routine. As what happened last week against Shore the penalties started to flow against them for either killing the ball in rucks or holding on the ball when in possession.
However, Newington had first points after only three minutes when their forwards smashed the Riverview first up defence and a conversion by Lussick had Newington up 7-0.
Newington captain Cannell was replaced after only eight minutes for what appeared to be shoulder problems (he was also examined against Shore last week).
Despite the penalty count against them, Newington doubled their score after 12 minutes when Anderson received the ball 30 metres from Riverview’s line and after a strong right-hand fend he sprinted under the posts for a 14-0 lead.
Newington continued to dominate as Riverview were missing first up tackles; so the hot-potato off-loading of their backs didn’t really help.
Newington scored their third try in the 25th minute when giant centre Moeroa got the ball and palmed of two would-be tacklers in a 60 metre run to score in the left corner for a 19-0 lead.
Riverview’s first opportunity came in the 29th minute when they received two penalties 25 metres out and Australian Schools 16 year-old centre Hutchison pierced the defence but dropped the ball over the line.
Riverview continued to run the ball and three minutes later Newington winger Kennewell was sin binned for a professional foul as Riverview looked certain to score in the right corner – a quick tap however saw hooker Fotukava loitering in the centres and a simple catch and pass to him had him score Riverview’s first points. The conversion by Freeman missed but Newington’s lead was cut to 19-5.
Newington regained the ascendancy from the restart and their forwards were just too big for the Riverview defence to score a fourth try for a 24-5 half time lead.
Second half
The trend in the second half was a replica of the first half as Newington continued to control the match and six minutes in Riverview received a penalty which was gathered by Milne who beat a couple of tackles and joined his backs to send winger Kennewell racing away in the corner. Lussick’s conversion sees Newington ahead 31-5.
Newington scored their final try in the 12th minute when their forwards received a five metre scrum and Duarte scurried over. Lussick’s conversion saw Newington ahead 38-5.
For the next 20 minutes knock ons and penalties were the order of play as both teams were committing errors with regularly.
Riverview managed to redeem themselves in scoring two unconverted tries where the passes through their backs exposed the tiring Newington defence through their wingers in Mete and McKay on different corners for a final score of 38-15.
The result keeps Newington alive in the race for the GPS title but Riverview can join Joeys, Kings and Shore by planning for 2014.
Scoring details
Newington — 38
Tries: Vunipola Fifita, Lachlan Anderson, Simon Kennewell, Tepai Moeroa, Taane Milne, J. Duarte.
Conversions: Joey Lussick (4)
Riverview — 15
Tries: Hosea Fotukava, Tom Molloy, Sam Mete.
