A plucky group of Twits along with some American support traveled to Powell River this past weekend to play the Powell River Otago RC. Giving PR’s Black Berry festival a boost we took to Cranberry Field against the Sunshine Coast Boys.
Game Synopsis courtesy of “Acting” Coach Mark Porter
Match was broken up with 20min 10min 10min and 20min “quarters”
In the first 20mins, PR had possession for the start but after some great passing through the backs Jeke fed out to Marcus on the wing and he raced off to score our first and his first try. (Marcus shot the boot of Ginger Ale)
From the kick off PR worked hard up the field resulting in their number 9 breaking through and scoring a try. (1 – 1)
Over the next few minutes a number of penalties were given but perseverance paid off with Jeke breaking through for a second try. (2 – 1)
PR continue to push hard with many good carries, their no 7 was making a nuisance of himself all over the place. They got to within 10m but could not close out the first 20 with a second try.
The second quarter started with scrum in twits half, wining the ball and kicked up field by Darren and then back down by PR. A bit of scrappy play and then an unfortunate or fortunate fumble by PR red short laid the ball at Marcus feet and off he went sprinting down the right side for his second try (3-1)
The third quarter underway and a kick by the PR no 9 found its way through our backs and into the hands of their chasing no 9. Twits were resigned to a second try but a cross field spring by Jeke ended in try saving tackle just as the no 9 got within diving distance of the try line.
The line-out was stolen by PR but we managed to get possession back and shortly after another scrum Chris passed the ball again through our backs, great running and ball handling by Fizzle resulted in run from Paul to score the 4th try. (4-1)
As the third quarter drew to a close again the back line did their magic, a great dummy by Jeke got the ball out tot Rick who raced down the side but was tackled into touch. The line-out was not straight and so we took advantage of another scrum (dominated by our red shorts) and the back line functioning smoothly to give Marcus his hat trick. (5 -1)
The beginning of the last quarter was more of the same with good carries on both sides and strategic use of our red shorts in the pack. More good runs by our backs but legs were getting tired and PR managed to put real pressure on our defense until we managed to force them into touch close to the 10m line.
Again PR managed to steal the line-out, but frustrated by our red shorts somehow Irving took one for the team as their #12 decided that he was going to steam roll our man to the floor. Irving did recover from the resulting stars and the game continued back and forth all quarter until a scrum on the Twits 10m line we regained possession and a well placed kick from Jeke gave our backs the chance to break the line with Marcus well on his way to score a 4th .. but in the spirit of sportsmanship the backs passed the ball around like a hot potato and Darren got a well deserved try.
Final Score Twilighter RFC 6 – 1 Powell River Otago RC
Read the feature article in the Powell River Peak.