Club News

At St Leonards Square: Christchurch 27 (Steve Alfeld, Sam Monaghan, Kieran Coll tries; Jason Merrett 3 conv, pen; Alfeld pen) beat Sumner 13 (Chris Burnett try, conv, 2 pen). HT: 24-7. Referee: Andrew Britt. Sinbin: Matt Thatcher (Christchurch).

As rain spat consistently down on a community already battered by natures fury, the Wave took the field for the first competition game on St Leonards Square of the 2011 season.

Hot on the heels of a thoroughly disappointing opening to their campaign, the clash against reigning champions Christchurch was always going to be a daunting task, but bolstered by the presence of Crusader Tom Marshall the locals ran on to the pitch with enthusiasm and determination.

Unfortunately the rub of the green didnt go Sumners way during the opening minutes, with 50/50 calls favouring Christchurch and minor errors conspiring to present their much vaunted opponents with more opportunities than they needed. Accurate finishing and the incredibly reliable boot of first five Jason Merrett soon saw the visitors out to a 17-nil lead, before Australian-born First-five Chris Burnett took matters into his own hands, stepping, bustling and sprinting his way past 4 or 5 black and red clad defenders to cross under the bar for the home sides first points.

Burnetts conversion of his own try saw the Wave collect their only other points of the half, while Christchurch added another converted try.

The Wave played with spirit and heart in the second spell, gradually adapting to the testing conditions and earning territory and possession the hard way. On more than one occasion they repelled Christchurch when a try seemed imminent, and did well to hold the experienced visitors to just a lone penalty in the second forty minutes. Burnett added two penalties to his tally, before a broken thumb cut his day short, and will see him sidelined for at least the next month.

When the full-time hooter sounded the score was 27-13, a reasonably accurate reflection of a game where Sumner started slowly, but showed passion and team-work, and a vast improvement from last week. Burnett was unsurprisingly awarded the Man of the Match award for the home team, while Paddy Davis, Ricky Lutton and Mat Whittleston all fought tirelessly in a forward pack which looks increasingly cohesive and competitive. Ahead of them lies New Brighton and the Battle of the Beaches at Rawhiti Domain this Saturday, kickoff at 2:45pm.

In the curtain raiser the Div Two side faced as tough a challenge as the top team, with arch rivals Lyttleton traversing the hill. While the young Wave side refused to be intimidated they also had a period in the first half where the game slipped away from them, and battle as they might for the remainder of the clash they were unable to peg back a well drilled and physically imposing Port side, ending up on the wrong side of a 25-7 scoreline. Man of the match was their hard working captain Gareth DAlmeida, while promising lock Andrew Pope and stand-in five-eighth Sam Robinson were also impressive.