First all North Canterbury final
| Published date | 16 June 2022 |
| Publication title | North Canterbury News |
Saracens v Prebbleton
This match was a real enigma. Prebbleton were first on the scoresheet with a penalty after just 3 minutes.
Saracens struck back immediately with a trademark try.
Hard-running fullback Harry Murray made the break and offloaded to right winger, Lemuel Hill who finished it off in style.
Murray, who was having a blinder, repeated the dose shortly after when he sliced through and slipped a pass to Ollie Bithray for him to finish.
During the first quarter of the match Saracens were matching it with Prebbleton.
In the forwards, hooker Connor Higgins and flanker Brett Hancox, who was particularly strong on defence, were having busy games as were the midfield combination of Kerran Jenkins and Toby Ashby.
Given that the team was playing into a strong cold wind, the Saracens supporters were cock-a-hoop, and even when Prebbleton closed the gap to two points with a good try at the 30 minute mark there was a feeling that Saracens was still on track. But the supporters’ mood was about to change.
Tries to Prebbleton either side of half-time shot the visitors out to a 22-12 lead.
Although Ashby did claw five points back with a thoroughly deserved try, Prebbleton was now dominating virtually every phase of the game .
Uncharacteristically Saracens started to fall off a number of tackles. Added to that the injury toll started to rise, with some key players like Murray and half-back Liam Dunseath having to be replaced.
The earlier confidence of even the most ardent of Saracens supporters gave way to resignation that they were going to have to bow to a superior team in Prebbleton.
But no-one told the players. Bithray who had left the field in obvious pain having taken a blow to the ribs, reflected the spirit in this team by showing courage in returning to the fray as the bench was empty.
But it was super-sub Nathan Goodwin, in particular, that sparked an unlikely last gasp renaissance from his team.
Since coming on to the field in the second half he had been the one shining beacon in the Saracens’ effort. With less than five minutes on the clock, and completely against the run of play, Goodwin latched on to a deftly-placed chip kick by five-eighth Ricky Allin to score only a few metres from the corner flag. Given the conditions, Allin did supremely well to land what proved to be a vital conversion, to narrow the gap to...
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