Rugby tie tips trophy in inter-school clash

By Ben Donaldson

It was a nail-biting finish in the annual Mt Roskill College exchange with Mahurangi College, held at Mahurangi this month, with Mahurangi narrowly losing in the final fixture.

The Auckland school arrived at Mahurangi College on Wednesday May 4 with about 100 students.

Games kicked-off at 10.30am with girls football, boys basketball and boys hockey.

Girls football fell in a narrow battle with Mahurangi losing 3-2 to the visitors, who downed Mahurangi 4-0 in the same fixture last year.

The boys basketball team, which have never fared well in the exchange, according to Mahurangi College sports coordinator Sandra Hawkin, went down 79-18.

Hockey allowed Mahurangi to grab their first win of the exchange with the boys side prevailing 6-2.

Following that match, the girls hockey held their end up with a 5-2 victory, before the netball game went in favour of the home side 31-26.

The exchange evened back up at three wins each when Roskill boys football dominated a scoreless Mahurangi side, 6-0.

The exchange hung in the balance with the rugby match the deciding fixture in front of a passionate home crowd.

Mt Roskill was leading at half-time 19-15. In the dying moments of the game when the score was 26-23, Mahurangi was awarded a penalty within kicking range to tie the score.

But, they opted for the quick tap.

“Everyone thought we were going to get the five pointer,” half-back Sam Warner says.

The visitors hung on despite the pressure, which resulted in a 26-23 victory and an overall win for the exchange trophy.

During the day, 110 Mahurangi College students competed across the various sports played.

“It was a great day with great results,” Sandra Hawkin says. “The kids were awesome.”