Round 4 - 04/05/2002			

Vs Teachers Eastern at Orakei Domain No 1

Score:	11 - 11
HT:	10 - 3 

The boys were on a two-match streak, and we all wanted to continue our reasonably good form, and
keep pushing ourselves. Unfortunately with a few of our number missing with either injury
(Reeves), work (Jonty/Macca) or an unscheduled trip to Roto-vegas (Simon/Gazza), our back line
looked a little, how do I put this, amalgamated. With four of the seven backs actually being
forwards, we hoped that for once ball retention would not be a problem. Or first casualty was
Nickovich, who due to picking his nose too hard had caused a nosebleed, so he was in the blood
bin before the whistle even blew.

A rather gloomy day got even worse for some when the opposition brought out the scales. The only
back to have to put themselves on the scales was Dykesie, who looked somewhat out of place at
second-five-eight, but he scraped in at a mighty 85.6 (his numbers were to improve!!) Then came
the turn of the forwards. Some knew that they would never make it and avoided the scales (Butcher
at 90+, Puss at around similar figures). The only ones to fail were two of our members of the
constabulary, Joel (86) and Craig (88), it must all that half priced McD's and not to mention all
those PIES!!! Petey beware! Well Joel stripped off and managed to sneak under the weight,
half-naked and half off the scales, he has obviously been practicing how to get past the flying
squad. So because he was not as smart as the others that knew how to cheat the scales were, Craig
had to run the touch for the day. (Good luck for next week's game mate!) Meanwhile, Matty was
running round the fields looking for his set of key that had been misplaced during grids.
Fortunately Phil is a well-trained member of the Police, and the reserves lined up and
emu-paraded along the sidelines in a vain attempt to find the missing keys. We would later find
tat Trev had picked them up and the half hour Dave and I spent looking for them was completely
unnecessary!

Kick off 2.30pm! The game began, as most of ours have, very evenly poised as both teams struggled
for good ball and early dominance. 

One of the new moves that we had practiced on Wednesday night, a short lineout off a penalty, was
given an early opportunity. The move worked just as we practiced, and Puss came in off the burst
with a strong run, well it really had to be considering he was one of the biggest guys on the
field! What resulted was a penalty for offside play, and our new 1st five stood up to take it.
Our kicking was what let us down last week and we really need this, fortunately from right in
front, and with a tail wind, Buck managed to slot it. So there we were three nil up.

The resulting kick off was not the required ten meters, and the cougars had an opportunity from
the midfield scrum. Unfortunately for us, the Claw knocked the ball on down the blind. Speaking
of which, after his efforts from last week, Robbie again tried to get himself involved in a fight
when both he and Petey were the unfortunately victims at the bottom of a ruck.

19 minutes into the half, Andre was caught offside, surprising since that's where he manages to
play most of his rugby. This time Teachers had an opportunity from in front, and they too
converted, three all.

A highlight of the first half was an Old Bugger who in cover, managed to catch a high ball, and
proceeded to put into play one of his first ever kicks in a match. The bomb he put into the
opposition twenty two was fortunately not marked by the full back, who instead kicked it out for
us to have an attacking lineout ten from the line. While we had practiced our mauling and keeping
low and tight, the lineout resulted in a tap down for our backs to use. Now it would really help
if we played some of the moves we practiced! Well the backs' hands let them down, and the move
broke down in mid-field.

What did eventually result were a few good phases of play from the Cougars. Then came the break
that we had all been waiting for. Puss, using his size and step to make a break from his
favourite first five position, he off-loaded a basketball pass to Dykes, who inturn gets it away
to Fraser. Twinkle-toes managed to negotiate the tightrope between the right hand touch, and put
away Affco with a miracle ball down the line. Try, 37 minutes into it, in the corner, cougars ten
three up! Unfortunately no icing could be added onto the cake and that was how we went into the
break.

I missed the half time conference, but did notice that our habitual, '1, 2, 3, Cougars!' was
missing.

Anyway the second half begins, and we note that while our forwards are our strength, the key to
winning was in the backs and out wide. It should be noted that Dykesie seems to have done well at
a new position. The long legs of the boy seems to do his left foot no harm as he gets some fair
distance. As Rosie explained it to me it's 'Physics, you know distance from the fulcrum and all!'

Anyway three into the half, Teachers were awarded a penalty, and again our ill discipline cost us
a further 20 meters for backchat. This resulted in a lineout halfway between the 22 and the
10-metre. The result no one expected, was a rare win to Teachers, and a resulting 30-meter maul
that was straight out of the book. Heads did fall after that, but to be honest nothing could be
done legally to stop the maul, the guy at the back held onto the ball on his hip, it was
ironically just as we had practiced! 10-all!

The second half saw some good runs by both Jonty and Hoppy, and Wayne looked promising at first
five. George got to come on for a fading Petey, who was helped from the field by Nicko,
completely unnecessary! Alex also came off hurt, which meant Troy got a run, but that was short
lived as Alex managed to sub himself back on, rolling subs are great! 

With the scores deadlocked, and both teams tiring, it was vital that the boys gained the
ascendancy and as soon as possible. This never really happened as both our hands and our tackling
let us down at the last moment. The Cougars did look the better of the two teams, and in the
dying minute an opportunity was give for us to take the game with a 30 meter penalty ten in from
the right hand touch. The ref finally got the Asian guy who was infringing the whole afternoon,
and raised his arm in our favour!

Wayne, who had kicked all day, stepped up to take this kick, not 100% confident, as he had to
cope with a headwind. The kick fell about seven meters short and all heads dropped, only to miss
that the fact that a member of the opposition had attempted to charge the penalty. That meant we
could retake the penalty, and this time Hoppy stepped into the breach. With the ref's back turned
Fraze managed to sneak an extra couple of meters and improve the position. So there we were, with
a Junior All White up to take the kick that would win us the game. History was on his side, as he
had saved the Cougars some years back in a similar situation. So deep breaths were taken and all
focused on Hoppy as he lined up the kick. Eyes followed him as he connected somewhat cleanly and
the ball headed promisingly towards the goal posts. Unfortunately like the previous attempt, the
ball dropped short, and the extra metres that were stolen were not enough. The mark was called
this time, but the ball was not kicked out, and the boys had one last chance!

What resulted was a couple of hit ups by the forwards, which set up an opportunity for our backs
to open up teachers out wide. Then it all fell to pieces as it was made plain that we should not
have forwards in the backs as Dykesie threw an absolute hospital to Joel who was out on the wing!
Joel let the ball through his legs, and the ball finally rolled in to touch.

The whistle blew, and the boys knew that they had let this one slip! But still, we were unbeaten
for three weeks running!!

The aftermath was a fine session back at the Uni clubrooms where we awarded Nick Dykes the man of
the match for his efforts in the midfield. Nick surprised us all with an impressive jug in 8.64
secs! Looks like we have a new leader guys! Well a few of us headed back to the captain's place
where we tried to watch some rugby but ended up polishing off a few beers, borrowing Sammie G's
clothes and squeezing into Mrs Wolf's car. With Titties in the boot, seven boys headed off to
Provador for a night in the town. No one was really up for a huge night and it was not long until
I was in a taxi heading back home.

Well I am sorry for getting this up so late, but it's been a shit of a week for most of us. Week
five should be up soon.

That's it from me, the Roving Reporter.