The KRyS Global National Mixed Touch Championships 2013 teams were in action on the second week of the season and more great action was witnessed.
Walkers have an experienced touch squad while KPMG are an enthusiastic but inexperienced team of rookies.
Walkers’ Kiwi captain Vikki Piaso was sensational. Rugby is in the Maori blood and Piaso comes from very good stock indeed. That shake of the hips combined with her side-step and dummy pass left KPMG defenders reeling in her wake as she scored two wonderful solo tries in the first half.
Her combination play with Brad Stephenson tore KPMG apart. Walkers had control of the game and never looked like losing, eventually running out 7-3 winners. Paul Smith scored a hat trick and Stephenson scored a breakaway try.
The closest game of the day saw Side Bar NWNT take on Genesis Trust. The eventual score of 9-7 to Side Bar NWNT showed that Side Bar could never relax and they relied on Jyoti Choi and Riley Mullen with three tries apiece to do the damage.
Chris Palmer again was highly influential, but any plan to stifle his skills just left the door open for others to exploit. With players like Neil Montgomery and MVP Roger “The Dodger” Priaulx up against them they needed all their resources to win.
Dart faced their second tough game in as many weeks as they took on the 2012 Champions Heineken Brew Crew.
Depleted in numbers, the Brew Crew were possibly as vulnerable as they have ever been. However, they may have been short on players but they were not short of talent as Venasio Toketokevanua and Keswick Wright scored almost at will through a combination of sheer pace and fiendish trickery.
It all started so well for DART with a try inside 20 seconds as Andy Childe took an early pass from Mat Bishop to sprint to the line.
Heineken only had three girls in their match day squad and with no female subs it required them to play for the entire game. In the afternoon heat, and with the searing pace of touch rugby that is a tall order for anyone, Jayme Farrell, Jodie McTaggart and Caroline Deegan gave a great performance.
They jointly take the MVP award and well deserved, too. Dart had their moments playing good structured rugby, but they just couldn’t exploit the gaps and overlaps that presented themselves.
Liz Austin had a fine game, particularly in defence. Dart are a team that are still finding their feet and will no doubt improve over the weeks.
So both Side Bar NWNT and Heineken Brew Crew remain undefeated in this year’s KRyS Global National Mixed Touch Championships but it the Brew Crew who sit on top of the table on points difference.
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