Final Results - Monday Night League

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Monday Night Winners Found

Auckland, New Zealand, October 15, 2012 - Monday Night Rugby League has provided some very exciting games and tonight's U85kg Grand Final was no exception, decided in the end by a missed conversion. Players from both sides had impressed in their games running into the finals and Orewa and Pakuranga College each had good reason to be confident, so it was not surprising the game proved to be so close.

At first the teams were evenly matched, with the game being played from end to end without either team able to score, but when Pakuranga finally did so, they definitely looked the stronger. Their first try came from an excellent angle run which put Tevita Sifa across the line and this was followed by an excellent conversion by Ata Hingano. 6 - 0

When Pakuranga scored again, this time Hingano crossing to score and then kicking the conversion, it looked like the night might be over for Orewa College with the score at 12 - 0 at half time.

But Orewa hadn't made the final for nothing and they came out fighting, and cheered on by a passionate crowd they started to gain some momentum and most importantly kept Pakuranga from scoring. Eventually their tenacity paid off and they scored two tries, the first to the very popular Rocco Hill, which was converted by Jake Foster. Then with the clock ticking down Orewa made a break and Taylor Morgan was able to cross the line to score their vital second try. Unfortunately he tripped as he crossed and wasn't able to bring the ball right around, leaving a difficult kick in the damp conditions for Foster, it missed.
With less than a minute to go Orewa received the ball and almost made it to the line again, only to be denied by a dropped ball in the tackle. Final score 12 - 10 to Pakuranga.

It was an exciting finish to an entertaining 'game of two halves' with each team scoring two tries in one half and being kept to nil in the other. Kiwi & Vodafone Warriors player Kevin Locke came along to make the presentations, with Orewa's No 13 Jordan Waterworth receiving player of the day. It was a fantastic result for Pakuranga College, especially as this was their first year with a rugby league team.

In the Pirtek National Premiership final both the Counties Manukau Stingrays and the Akarana Falcons would have been feeling positive about their chances coming into the game. Although the Falcons had finished two points (one win) behind the Stingrays in the pool rounds, they were only two points behind on for and against, and had the better defensive record. And the Falcons were back to back defending champions having won the Albert Baskerville trophy in 2010 & 2011 (under their previous name Auckland Pride). The Stingrays however, went through this years competition unbeaten, scoring an average of 48 points per match. It was anyone's final to win.

The Falcons came out strongly and scored first when, following a Stingrays penalty after a minute, they went straight up the middle and scored right under the posts. Cody Walker converted and the score was 6 - nil. They followed this with a second unconverted try before the Stingrays found their rhythm and scored, bringing it to 10 - 4. The Falcons replied with a converted try of their own to Junior Fotu and the Stingrays countered with an excellent try to Steve Waetford, score 16 - 10 to the Falcons. Right before half time Akarana made another break down field, only to be stopped by Leroy Fa'avesi, who held on too long and was sin binned for a professional foul. With little time left on the clock the Falcons launched one last unsuccessful attacking raid before half time.

The second half was all the Falcons, who defended strongly causing the Stingrays to make uncharacteristic errors, give away too many penalities and go away from what had worked for them previously. While the Stingrays player was in the sin bin they scored a try through Cody Walker, but the Stingrays got one back through Faingaa. The Falcons went on to score a further three tries, the Stingrays only one and the end result was 38 points to 20 to the Falcons.

The player of the day was Zac Tippins, the very impressive number 9 for Akarana who made good metres with each of his dummy half runs. Both he and captain Tane Hart said that their season game plan had been to focus on small improvements each week, and Hart said the success of this approach was shown on the scoreboard tonight. The winners received their medals and the Albert Baskerville trophy from NZRL President Trevor Maxwell.

Following the presentation of the runners up medals to the Stingrays by Scott Carter, NZRL Chairman, their captain Roman Hifo thanked the coaching staff, friends and family who had helped them throughout the season. He especially thanked their hardy band of suppporters who had turned out on so many Monday nights to cheer them on.

The evening concluded with the naming of the NZ Residents team to play NZ Maori on October 28. The final round of the national competition 15s and 17s games will be played next Sunday October 21 before their grand finals are played, also on October 28.

U85 Secondary Schools Final
Pakuranga College 12 (Sifa, Hingano tries; Hingano 2 goals)
Orewa College 10 (Hill, Morgan tries; Foster goal)
Pirtek National Premiership, Albert Baskerville Trophy Final
Counties Manukau Stingrays 20 (Nafetalai, Waetford, Faingaa, Tuia tries; Fa'avesi, Tuha goals)
Akarana Falcons 38 (Kavaliku, Maliepo, Fotu, Walker, Esera, Blackwell, Matagi tries; Walker 5 goals)

ENDS

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