Waverley Harvesting Border kept their shields but a transformative Dave Hoskin Carriers Marist came closer than anyone to making the hosts go out on them at Dallison Park on Saturday.

In the battle of first vs sixth on the Tasman Tanning Premier points table, Marist turned in a night-and-day different performance compared to the week before against Wanganui Car Centre Kaierau, as it took Border first-five Tyrone Albert slotting his team’s first penalty this season to snatch a 32-29 victory in the shadow of fulltime.

Marist, initially with only two players on the bench while waiting for reinforcements from their Senior teams playing back in Whanganui, while missing talisman veteran Brad Graham (broken hand), scored in the opening five minutes and came back at Border every time they generated momentum to create multiple points-scoring plays.

Led up the middle by veteran prop Kamipeli Latu, well supported by lock Ngapuke Patea and flanker- turned-prop Ranato Tikoisolomone, Border racked up three tries in 15 minutes to pull away 29-19 entering the final quarter, which is where Marist faded against Kaierau.

Strike weapons Timoci Seruwalu and Alekesio Vakarorogo in the midfield always threatened, while
fullback Nick Harding put himself in the right spots to dash in for a try in each half.

But Marist gamely closed down Border’s game-breakers and forced their way back into contention – it was if playing a great team brought out the best in them as they made less individual errors and put the pressure on to earn a succession of penalties.

Try-scoring centre Josaia Bogileka, in his injury comeback, held strong against his fellow Steelform
Whanganui midfielders, but it was the lesser publicised second-five Jamie Robertson who really made an impact – laying on three try-assists.

Hooker Alesana Tofa, captain and lock Lake Ah Chong, and the O’Leary’s in the pack – Ben and Connor – toiled hard, with halfback Daniel Kauika slotting some crucial kicks, including a penalty to tie the game 29-29 with seven minutes remaining.

Border, playing without Whanganui centenarian halfback Lindsay Horrocks, as former Under 18’s representative Carlos Hill stepped into the hot seat for his second game in less than 24 hours, had to use all their championship guile to edge-out the win.

A 44m penalty attempt by the longer-range kicker Harding was away, but after Seruwalu, No8 Josefa Namosimalua, and Tikoisolomone made strong carries back into Marist’s 22m, a ruck penalty allowed Albert to retake the tee and boot his team to the win with only enough time left for the restart.

Border retained both the Whanganui Rugby Challenge Shield and the inter-club Jake Alabaster Memorial Shield, but coach Todd Cowan tipped his hat to their brave opposition.

“It went down to the wire, all credit to Marist - they came out firing and really took it to us.

“Could have gone either way towards the end there.

“We’ve had a few injuries, but so has everyone else, we’re just trying to find our feet and get a bit of
momentum now.

“Today Marist gave us a really good wakeup call and we needed it.”

Border had a very different spine with Hill and Albert compared to the old firm of Horrocks and Craig Clare, but Cowan was happy with the effort.

“We’re fortunate we’ve got a few young guys in the club at the moment, and we’re trying to bring that next lot of players up and in to Premier rugby, so we’re really fortunate in that space.”

But the steady hands from the likes of Latu and others remains crucial.

“We’re lucky we’ve got guys that have been here for 100 years and guys that have been here for five
minutes.”

Although only pocketing two bonus points when it could have been two shields, Marist coach Steelie Koro was very proud of the performance.

“Attitude was a lot better today – massive turnaround considering we only had two on the bench at the start.

“We talked about it all week though – turning up for the jersey, turning up for your team mate – and asking yourself why you want to play Prems.

“I think today showed not only themselves but also the supporters – we had a supporter’s bus come up and it was great to put on a show for them.

“Border ain’t four-peat winners for no reason, they still have the firepower in that backline, and just
showing any small opportunity they’re willing to take it.

“They started to come out quite good that second half, so we had a quiet word together and reminded each other of the values that we placed – just got to have a little bit of belief.”

Koro acknowledged Robertson’s performance against his high-powered markers.

“Jamie’s in great condition this year, he’s got himself fit, starting to believe in himself more, and now it the boys around him are complementing that, he’s going to do a really good job in that second-five position.”

That impact started right from the early minutes as a Marist penalty got them an attacking lineout, and after the visitors worked forward, a slip on the turf by his marker saw Robertson go for a probe, step both ways and set up winger Ioane Hough to score in the corner.

Border replied six minutes later as following a tap penalty, their strike players were stopped by Marist, but the pressure had pulled the defence into the middle, and Harding ran at the corner with support and took on the line to get the ball down.

Play went back-and-forth but it was Border who broke the deadlock in the 24 th minute when after trying inside ball channel offloads, a drive from corner lineout, and a cross kick, all of which Marist stopped, eventually Seruwalu just charged at first-receiver off an attacking scrum to reach out and score.

But at 12-5, Marist lifted another gear as they reclaimed the kickoff, worked into position, and again
Robertson took on the defenders in the far corner, stepping back inside and offloading to Bogileka to get the ball down under his tacklers.

Kauika produced a great one-on-one tackle on Vakarorogo when he threatened to break out of his own half, and when Border were pinged midfield for holding in the ruck, Marist worked up through their own pack – with pick-and-go’s to the line – before flanker Jayden Garland-Lower absorbed a hard hit to drive across for 19-12 approaching halftime.

Stung to be trailing at the break for the first time this season, Border made a strong restart as Harding linked with speedy winger Harry Symes to run back a clearing kick, then Patea produced two big offloads to give Vakarorgo a little room and it was all he needed to twist through and carry three defenders over the corner tryline.

The hits kept coming as flanker Angus Middleton, Latu, and Vakarorogo made big yards up the middle, and then a chip kick over the top fell for Symes and while he slipped chasing it, he still dived full stretch in-goal to force the ball down.

Border then took what they thought was full control when Middleton made a deep attacking raid from an overthrown Marist lineout, and Border swiftly followed up as Namosimalua ran wide and put Harding over in the far corner.

But the visitors showed they were far from spent – as Border’s attempt at a chip kick in their own half was snatched by first-five Paiki Ponga, who found Robertson in support to jink through a gap and offload to Bogileka, who fended off one chaser and twisted through the last to score beside the posts for 29-26.

A succession of nine straight penalties allowed Marist to twice clear out of their half and onto the attack, and the last infringement was close enough for Kauika to slot a good penalty to lock the scores up with seven minutes left.

Marist then cleared out of their half for an attacking lineout, but a lost ball gave Border the chance to move back onto the attack, and they showed a champion’s mentality to make it count – Albert slotting the second penalty attempt to win the game.

Border 32 (N Harding 2, T Seruwalu, A Vakarorogo, H Symes tries; T Albert pen, 2 con) bt Marist 29 (J
Bogileka 2, I Hough, J Garland-Lower tries; D Kauika pen, 3 con). HT: 19-12 Marist.

By Jared Smith