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The sun was shining at the Warkworth Showgrounds as Mahurangi RFC ran out to face East Coast Bays RFC on May 3.
But there must have been a dark cloud hanging over the team heading into their home game after a 97–12 away loss to North Shore RFC the weekend before, not to mention a mounting injury list.
While the rejigged prems were much improved, mistakes at crucial times and a lack of discipline cost them momentum, points and ultimately the match, which was their fourth loss of the season in five games.
After going behind by two scores early, Mahurangi trailed throughout and despite fighting hard to stay in the contest eventually went down 36–17 to the visitors, who were also coming off a big loss (54–5 vs Takapuna RFC).
One silver lining for Mahu was their giant lock Vaha Moala playing in his 40th game for the club and earning his blazer post-match.
Mahu captain Ben Dallow, who once again put in a big shift, said they were their own worst enemies at times.
“We’d get ourselves back in the game and then was just a little lapse. A dumb penalty or we’d try to run it on our own and turn it over and then the heads would go down again.
“We had a set game plan and then we’d go off it and put ourselves on the back foot. We just lost our structures and shape, and then that’s what happens.”
He added, “And it was another one where we got held up over the line, which is a body position thing.
We seem to be caught out with that once a week and it’s starting to hurt us.
“We were a try away from the bonus point there as well so you know if we put away those opportunities and get a bonus point here or there in the competition that could help us out in the playoff race.”
Like the home side, East Coast Bays made costly errors (fumbling the kick-off after scoring their second try which led to a Mahu five-pointer for example) and gave away silly penalties.
The difference was the green and blacks iced more of their opportunities when they arose than their opposition.
East Coast Bays captain Ryan Mead, who looked a little worse for wear with a gash over his left eye, said they wanted to come out firing and get the tempo up early after their loss against Takapuna.
“Mahu always come out in the second half flying, and can be hard to stop. Once they get some momentum, they’re very hard to stop.
“They got a couple of quick tries (either side of the halftime break) and then we had to really dig deep to hold them out. And then brought it home,” he said
