Some say that winning ugly is good for a team.   If that's true, the 16-12 win over Glenfield may well set the Prem 2s up for the rest of the season.  It wasn't pretty, which is what we expect in games against Glenfield, but it was a win.

We started with a hiss and a roar, had lots of possession and were playing at the right end of the field, but we couldn't convert that to points, with handling errors, forward passes and other little mistakes halting the flow.

Gus Mowatt opened the scoring with a penalty after 25 minutes before the first try 10 minutes later to Kiko Falemaka.   Kiko proved a handful for the opposition all afternoon, showing a great step, strength and speed.

8-0 and we would have been happy with that at halftime, but the big Glenfield pack weren't going to be so generous, bashing their way over in the last play of the half.

8-7 at the break.   We probably had the better of the first half but that scoreline meant no relaxing.  And Glenfield weren't about to let us relax.   The second half saw them win more possession which gave the Cote guys plenty of tackling practice.

A quarter of an hour in, halfback Brandon Prinsloo eased a wee bit of the pressure when he reacted fastest at a penalty and sneaked over, but 13-7 with nearly half an hour to play, was unlikely to be a match-winning lead.

Glenfield came back again.  A try closed the gap to just one, 13-12, about a quarter of an hour to play, both teams getting tired, all supporters getting nervous.

Five to go.  Gus sneaked another penalty over the crossbar.    16-12, a try could win it for Glenfield.

And they made us dig deep.   First Brandon Prinsloo, the last line of defence, made a match saving tackle.   Then everyone got stuck in for some goal line defence that was nothing short of heroic.  The Glenfield players were big, very big and they spent the last moments of the game (it felt like forever) camped on the Northcote line.   But the defence held, the whistle went and a 16-12 win goes into the record book.

A big thank you to those players who left an important community funeral and got up to Kaipatiki as quickly as they could and in time to stand by for us.   We needed them and they all made a difference when they got on the field.

The Wide Awake Award, though, goes to Damo.   He worked an overnight shift Friday, finishing at 7am Saturday, just in time to collect the family and get to youngest son Kaleb's first game in the J8s.   Damo reffed that game then went to the J1 team that he helps coach.  He reffed that game too, then came to the Prem 2s where he was expecting to be on the bench.   But Tristan was at that funeral, so Damo starts the game at prop and plays the first half hour.    Gutsy effort Damo, but there's more.    Spike's dodgy shoulder finally gave up, so back on Damo goes for the last quarter hour at hooker, right in the middle of that goal line defence that saved the day.

Quiet kids, Daddy's sleeping!