OBU: 44 Upper Hutt: 10
The Old Boys-University Premiers are through to the Hardham Cup Final next week after beating the Upper Hutt Rams 44-10 at the Hutt Rec this afternoon.
Despite eventually coming out as 34 point victors, OBU took their time to warm into the match, unlike their dominant start against the same opposition last week.
Having scored four tries in the first 10-minutes against Upper Hutt last week, this time around OBU had to hang tight in the first quarter of the match.
Upper Hutt opened the scoring with a penalty kick, which was the only points in the first 20-minutes, as both teams struggled to keep hold of the ball in wet conditions.
OBU got on the board in the 22nd minute when Dale Sabbagh slipped his way through three or four Upper Hutt defenders before sliding over to score.
OBU’s new held advantage on the scoreboard was cancelled out only five-minutes later when Upper Hutt’s Todd Svenson found himself with the ball and acres of space after an OBU kick was charged down. Svenson then had the pace to outrun the OBU players who were in pursuit and go 70-odd meters to score, putting his side up 10-7.
It was all one-way traffic from there on in, however, with OBU scoring 37 unanswered points on their way to an emphatic victory.
Morgan Poi put OBU back into the lead when he went bulldozing straight up the middle to score under the post.
Only moments later OBU players with low numbers on their backs found some space in the midfield before giving the ball to winger Jack Green who made a swooping pass out to Ty Poe who trotted 30-meters untouched to score.
Two Dale Sabbagh penalties after halftime saw the score pushed out to 27-10 OBU.
Taine Plumtree and Izzy Foai then added a try each before another Sabbagh penalty saw OBU finish 44-10 winners.