Over the weekend, the Mid Canterbury Hammers played host to West Coast. Both sides were on their hunt for their first win of the season. Mid Canterbury had lost their two opening games to Buller and East Coast and the West Coast's losses came against Whanganui and Thames Valley. Mid Canterbury were welcoming back halfback and co-captain, Tyler Blackburn which was a big boost for the home team. It's the second home game of the season for the Hammers so they were big beneficiaries of a home crowd advantage. 

The first half was a nail-biting affair with both sides unable to find a whole lot of momentum for a long period of time. But Mid Canterbury's forwards muscled up and put in a huge shift, being led by the loose forward trio of Kaydis Hona, Nasi Manu and Michael Hennings who were absolutely fantastic on both offence and defence. But going into the halftime break, West Coast were up 15-8. 

The second half was a completely different story for Mid Canterbury as the errors disappeared from their game and the Hammers began to flex their attacking muscle and their bone-rattling defence, swinging the momentum in the home teams favour. The backs began to run the West Coast defence ragged as the gaps began to appear all over the defensive line. Mid Canterbury ran in forty points in the second half as they won 48-15. To finish off the game, reserve winger Elyh McKibbin ran down the West Coast flanker after he intercepted a pass, which highlighted the Hammers work ethic for the game. Mid Canterbury's point scorers were second five, Isireli Masiwini, number eight, Michael Hennings, flanker, Kaydis Hona, winger, Waitangi Tuisuga, halfback, Tyler Blackburn, first five, Tom Reekie and reserve forward, Manasa Samo. Fullback, Tom Middleton kicked four conversions and one penalty goal, first five, Tom Reekie also kicked one conversion as well. 

Next weekend, the Hammers travel down to Kurow to take on North Otago. North Otago are sitting in third place after winning two of their three games, so it'll be a good yardstick for the Mid Canterbury side to see where they are at. 

Article added: Monday 05 September 2022