Season not over yet for Ryan Cup champions Masterton Red Star
Masterton Red Star’s bid to return to senior premier status is a step closer after beating Tuhirangi 29-20 in the Burger King Senior Reserves Ryan Cup Final at Trust House Memorial Park in Masterton this afternoon.
Having topped the table all season it was a fitting end to the competition for Masterton Red Star. But their season is not over yet, as they now re-focus on next Saturday’s promotion-relegation match against senior premier bottom of the table side East Coast. It will be another step up.
Tuhirangi showed that there are plenty of chinks in the MRS armour. The southerners came out of the blocks faster and were rewarded with an early penalty from the boot of second-five eighth Isaac Vollebgegt.
Missing in action in the opening stanzas, MRS finally got into the game, working their way into Tuhirangi territory. Impressive loose forward Lene Malatai made a strong break, off-loading to his skipper Jack Gibbs to score near the upright.
They were back in the scoring action a few minutes later after big winger Phoenix Fui-Poupa smashed his way up the left flank, slipped the ball inside to first-five eighth Bon Wilson who raced down the touch-line to score.
Just when the game looked like slipping away from Tuhirangi, they were gifted an easy seven-points when Isaac Vollegregt charged down a clearing kick from Wilson, to score and then convert his own try to close the margin to two-points.
Ten minutes later MRS got it back to seven points when Malatai crashed over for a try. More pressure saw prop Joe Hei Hei score just before the half-time break to make it 24-10.
Tuhirangi made the perfect start to the second half, centre Jamie Boyle intercepting the ball deep inside his own territory and hightailing it 80 metres to score under the posts. A successful conversion and then a second penalty from Vollebregt five minutes later made it game on.
Half-back Hemi Walker gave MRS some breathing space with a smartly taken try, but Tuhirangi wasn’t going to go down without a fight. It made for an entertaining final quarter as Tuhirangi chanced their arm but to no avail.
FULL REPLAY
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