Tears of joy as Ohoka wins
| Published date | 26 May 2022 |
| Publication title | North Canterbury News |
But it was the scenes of unbridled joy and elation from the Ohoka players and supporters that greeted the final whistle at Southbrook that will live on.
It is not often that you see grown men with tears of joy in their eyes around a club rugby match, but that was the case on Saturday when Ohoka’s replacement loose forward, Cam Brown, barged over for a try deep in injury time, giving his team a deserved win.
It also ended a splendid unbeaten run by the Saracens side, and won Ohoka the highly-prized Deans Shield, or any other major trophy, for the first time in its history.
Saracens v Ohoka
Ohoka made most of the play in the first half, winning a steady supply of ball, with lock Max Lines and flanker Ben Gold to the fore.
The ball was distributed smoothly by the halves pairing of Scott England and Paddy McCallum. Scott Allin, in the midfield was another to impress with his hard running.
Ohoka’s only first half try was a gem with backs and forwards involved.
The industrious loose forward, Tom Taylor, played a major role with an offload, flicked behind his back, creating a rare gap in the Saracens’ defence.
Ohoka’s fullback, Tom Wedlake ran on to it at full pace and sidestepped his way across the line.
Allin’s conversion and penalty were the only other points Ohoka gleaned from a half where it looked the far more polished team.
Saracens’ first half by contrast was error-ridden.
It only made two meaningful incursions into Ohoka territory, but as often happens with good teams was rewarded with points on both occasions with Ollie Bithray and Harry Murray touching down. Nevertheless, it would have counted itself lucky to take a two point lead into the break.
Slowly, with a more concerted forward effort, and Nathan Goodwin to the fore, Saracens appeared to be gaining the upper hand.
Now it was Ohoka’s turn for its defensive patterns to hold strong, but when Saracens’ right winger Toby Ashby, sped down the touchline to score in the corner and Ricky Allin added the extras with by far his best kick of the day, Saracens lead had stretched to 19-10 and it seemed as though Saracens would take an unbeaten record into post-section play when the quarterfinals of the Luisetti Seeds Cup come around in a fortnight’s time.
But Ohoka had other ideas. Five-eighth, Paddy McCallum capped an excellent game by putting in a deft chip kick, gathering it on the full and off-loading to George...
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