RNZN Invitational XIII 6:40 RNRL

The game was not without incident and involved the match being moved to an adjacent pitch to allow medical teams to deal with a potentially serious injury. This happened 12 minutes into the second half and whilst perhaps not home and hosed the RN side were looking good value for their 22:6 lead. The home side had begun brightly enough using their heavier pack to blast a path through the lighter RN defence. The RN held firm however, holding the Kiwi’s to a solitary converted try scored on the stroke of half time but by that time the Brothers were already 16 points to the good. The honour of scoring the RN first points of the campaign went to loose forward Ben Taylor who crossed after 15 minutes almost under the posts giving Kev Botwood a comfortable conversion. A couple of minutes later great play by Wilson Tulakepa broke the NZ defence pushing the RN deep into the home sides half and after a great 40 metre break off loaded to his centre partner Tim Vodonaivalu who crossed to stretch the RN lead to 10 points. As the match approached half time great play from a penalty restart saw the Brothers move the ball infield with quick hands to lose forward Taylor who drew the cover defence before delivering a perfect pass to scrum half Botwood who touched down under the posts to make his own conversion a formality. With the home side pegging back a converted try the scores were 16:6 at the break.
The Brothers again withstood an early onslaught in the second half before going further ahead through an individual effort from new boy Tommy Wilkinson. Taking over at loose forward Wilkinson took the ball from the base of the scrum and sprinted the 20 metres or so to the line taking the defence completely by surprise, Kev Botwood was again able to get the extras so it was now 22:6. Following the switch of pitches RNRL continued to dominate with Alex Scruton being next to get his name on the score board crashing over from short range to score a classic hookers try. Ten minutes later the Brothers were on the scoreboard again, Richie Metcalfe taking the ball at pace and beating the defence to go over from 25 metres out. The Brothers final score came with ten minutes left on the clock, a speculative kick to the corner by Kev Botwood was palmed down by John Humphrey and the ball which was gathered by Rob Sanderson who crossed and touched down, Kev Botwood slotted home his sixth conversion of the match to post a final score of 40:6 to the Brothers. A pleasing start to the campaign for head coach Okell with some excellent performances round the team amongst them was Ade Peel’s work at stand-off which earned him RN player of the match.
Following their own match the Brothers took time out to witness the first of the Tri Nations series of matches between hosts New Zealand and the Royal Australian Navy which ended in a comfortable win for the Kiwi’s by 38-12. The match gave the RN squad a very good insight into the size of their next task as they take on the Aussies on Saturday afternoon.
Scorers Try’s- Taylor, Vodonaivalu, Botwood, Wilkinson, Scruton, Metcalfe, Sanderson. Goals- Botwood (6 Conv)