Tri Nations Navy Rugby League Series Round 3

Match 3 RNZN 24:10 RNRL
The weather for the match was the worst to date, although the mornings heavy rain had eased off the first half was played in almost constant drizzle powered by a fresh breeze. Credit must go to both sides for the ball skills as there were relatively few handling errors despite the weather. As always before any match featuring the Kiwi’s a challenge was thrown down to the opponents in the form of the Haka. The game started brightly for the Brothers with an early opportunity for Aaron Hunt to post the first points of the game, chasing down Botwoods grubber he touched the ball down however the try was disallowed as Hunt was adjudged to have been offside. The match was flowing well from end to with neither side making the crucial score until the 15th minute. The Kiwi full back had backed up his forwards well and with the ball evaded the RN defence to cross to the left of the posts, with the conversion by Damien Shelford the Brothers were down by 6. The game unfortunately was falling into a similar pattern to the previous Brothers match, with significant penalties and a lot of play in midfield the RN side were just not making significant headway against the Kiwi’s. After saying that the Brothers goal line defence was working well despite having to repel repeat sets on several occasions throughout the half. The pressure finally told however and on the 25 minute mark the Kiwi Open side prop Daniel Mio crossed for the home side’s second try, Shelford taking the extras 12:0. The last few minutes of the half gave the RN a glimmer of hope as they began to make some inroads into the Kiwi defence but with no success as far as points on the board were concerned. This recovery was dashed on the stroke of half time when the Kiwi No 11 crossed close to the posts for his side’s third try, with the conversion made the ref called the half time break and the brothers were 18:0 down. Head Coach Wayne Okells half time team talk inspired his team for the second half drawing on the old cliché ‘a game of two halves’ the Brothers were a different side altogether pinning the Kiwis in their own half for long periods. Finally after 20 minutes and a lot of sustained RN pressure Prop Lee Rossiter forced his way over to the left of the posts to finally get the Brothers on the scoreboard. Despite the kick being missed the next passage of play from the kick off led to the Brothers scoring their second try of the match. Sili Buinimasi gathered the ball passed inside to Tulakepa who then set Mike Haldenby off on a 30 metre sprint across to the wing where once again Aaron Hunt took the ball on leaving the Kiwi defence standing, the cover did get across to him but a perfectly weighted pass inside found Tommy Wilkinson following up and he took the ball the last 20 metres or so to touchdown behind the posts, this time Kev Botwood made the conversion so the deficit was now just 8 points. As the game moved into the closing stages the RN pressed for more points against a rapidly tiring New Zealand side, this time though it was not to be and the Kiwi’ in one of their few second half attacks crossed out on the left for their fourth try effectively sealing the win for the home nation.
A much improved performance in the second half was not enough to prevent the defeat but Wayne Okell congratulated his squad for their efforts throughout this journey pointing out to all that as a development side with an average age of just 22 there is a lot more to come from these players especially with the Inter Services Series barely six weeks away. Mark Robinson was awarded RN Man Of The Match by the Kiwi’s, just reward for his efforts throughout the match gaining valuable metres at every carry against some big units in the Kiwi defence as well as distributing the ball well from dummy half.
RN; Adam McCrohan, Wilson Tulakepa, Silivenusi Buinimasi, Mike Haldenby, Aaron Hunt, Ade Peel, Kev Botwood, Lee Rossiter, Mark Robinson, Ritchie Metcalfe, Jim Barnes, Dave Gee, Ben Taylor,
Bench- Johnny Platt, Wata Robanakadavu, Tommy Wilkinson, Tim Vodonaivalu
After the match the teams sat down to an end of series dinner once again hosted by the New Zealand Navy. Various awards were presented throughout the formalities including the announcing of series 'Dream Team' selected by the coaches based on individual player’s performances throughout the series. Aussie coach Dave Kemp read out the list of names which included four of the Brothers Jim Barnes, Aaron Hunt and from the pack Mark Robinson and Ritchie Metcalfe. The closing speeches followed a buffet meal with a fantastic variety of food with green lip mussels sat alongside individual shepherds pies which in turn were alongside portions of fish and chips wrapped up in the Auckland daily newspaper! Each of the respective team officials congratulated the players from all sides for their efforts as well as the Competition organising Committee in Philomel for ensuring this inaugural Tri-Nations Series ran as smoothly as could be expected.