Baywide Club Rugby

It took a full 80 minutes but the spectre of Toby Arnold was back to haunt Whakarewarewa in the first round of Baywide club rugby on Saturday.

Arnold, who scored two tries in Tauranga Sports' epic 44-19 championship win over Whakarewarewa last year, nailed a tricky 30m penalty in the final second of Saturday's match to snatch a 23-20 victory.
The lithe first-five, who broke into the Steamers on the back of his club form at fullback last year, minutes earlier missed two potentially match-winning shots at goal, while his Whakarewarewa counterpart Kelly Haimona could only convert two of his seven shots. There was plenty of early season dross in the encounter, but enough to show the two sides will be in the thick of things when the championship semifinals loom.
Whakarewarewa, who won 26 consecutive games before their Baywide final calamity, have some handy new recruits still to pull on the red and black jersey, including Steamers midfielder Wayne Hughson, former Kahukura point-scoring machine James Tuapawa, and former Rotorua Boys High lock Craig McFadyen.

Tauranga Sports still have effervescent utility Michael George and Steamers frontrowers James McGougan and Marcel Cummings-Toone to come back.
They also boast one of the youngest and classiest loose-forward trios in the Bay. At 20, openside Bruce Olsen is the senior partner, even though No 8 Luke Braid has a grizzled, 38-year-old rugby brain tucked inside his 19-year-old head.

The revelation at Tauranga Domain on Saturday, however, was 18-year-old blindside Hohepa Goebel, an apprentice carpet-layer who was playing first XV rugby for Tauranga Boys' College last season.
Goebel had a dazzling debut, playing large parts in all three Tauranga tries, as the home side fought back from 20-8 down with 17mins left to firstly draw level, then take the points with Arnold's late heroics.
The second try show-cased Braid's natural vision, when he switched play on a whim, Arnold and second-five Gareth Brown put Goebel through a gap and the flanker expertly drew the defence to send Matt Hodson in under the posts.

Tauranga's loosies ensured Whakarewarewa's pack was starved of ball, though they counter-attacked well and scored three good tries of their own, to hooker Trent Sweeney, fullback Trent Vatselias and second-five Cory Aporo.

There's a flimsy air about the red and black forwards, which coach Clayton McMillan put down to early season antipathy. `It was a pretty ugly game really and we were lucky if it got out to the centres or wings more than half a dozen times,'' McMillan said.

Besides Goebel, the other home player to impress was lock Culum Retallick, much maligned through the Steamers season last year.

The big former Cantabrian has put in some hefty off-season work, having his best game for the club with aerial supremacy in the lineouts and some handy bursts around the field.
Even without experienced trio Dave Gorrie, Rob Moon and Kyle O'Brien, the defending champions' depth will be too much for most teams they face this season.

In other matches, Mount wing Zane Butler had another day to remember at Blake Park, running in five tries against Kahukura.  Butler, who also scored three tries on debut in the season opener against Arataki last year, helped Mount to a 48-7 win over Kahukura.

Rangataua emerged with a thrilling 22-17 over Te Puna at Te Ariki Park, while Te Puke Sports repelled Whakatane Marist's strong challenge, winning 32-10.

Opotiki first-five Sam Howe collected 16 points to help his side to a 26-22 win over local rivals Te Teko, while Rotoiti overcame Waikite 24-12.