Halswell Hornets Rugby League Club Inc

The Halswell Hornets Premiers are unbeaten after four rounds of the 2013 CRL Premiership after demolishing the Papanui Tigers 44-12. The Hornets piled on 7 first half tries to blow away the rebuilding Papanui side. While the second half performance was not quite as strong, their opposition was always going to struggle with three players backing up from a walloping in the Premier Reserves game directly beforehand. The Hornets were too strong, their try-scoring form continuing on from the opening round.

The Hornets leapt out of the blocks early, with winger-turned-centre Will Tafua dotting down for the first of his three tries. The Hornets relied again on their strong forward pack to gain significant metres through the middle of the field. However they failed to capitalise on all of the opportunities that presented themselves. Nonetheless, they were still able to use their large amounts of possession to put on 7 first half tries as they took at 36-0 lead into the half-time break. The Hornets let their foot off the pedal in the second half, with the Tigers’ defence holding strong. Their attack caused a few issues for the Hornets defence, although they were unable to cross the try line. The Hornets scored two second half tries, with Tafua finishing the game with a hat-trick, while Jordan Kane had an indifferent day with the boot, only slotting 4 goals from 8 attempts. The Tigers opened and closed their scoring in the final ten minutes, with two late consolation tries. But by this time, the game was far out of their reach, leaving them winless from four starts.

The Hornets will spend the next week gearing up for a massive top of the table clash with the Linwood Keas. The Keas are also unbeaten across the opening four rounds, but have been challenged with close encounters over the past two weeks. They took a commanding 16-0 lead into half time, but the Riccarton Knights pulled back in the second stanza, only to be held out 18-8. The Hornets will have to step up their game another notch against the team that prevented them from taking out the annual CRL Preseason tournament with a 95^th minute drop goal. So get on down to the Hornets Nest (Halswell Domain) at 2.45pm on Saturday 4 May and support our Premiers as they look to fly solo at the top of the table!

Go the mighty Hornets!!!

Halswell Hornets 44: Tries – Will Tafua (3), Ross Martin, Matthew Sauni, Brad Austin, Jaye Pukepuke, Garry Hape, Scott Macdonald; Goals: Jordan Kane (4);

Papanui Tigers 10.