St Johns Metro to meet rivals Feilding Yellows in Manawatu Colts final

By Jared Smith

UPDATE 12/08/20: The Manawatu Colts final will be held on the Arena Palmerston North in a “Closed Stadium”  (No Spectators) on Saturday.

Minimize the errors, control the phases, if it moves then tackle it, and St Johns Wanganui Metro could claim their second Manawatu Colts title in three seasons this Saturday.

Both semifinals followed the script last weekend to bring rivals Metro and the Feilding Yellows back together for the Gordon Brown Memorial Cup final, as Metro disposed of Feilding Old Boys 43-7 at Cooks Gardens.

Up 19-0 at halftime, Metro continued to show big match composure, as coach Mark Cosford said Old Boys brought a much larger and more aggressive outfit than the side they pumped 61-8 back on July 4.

Multi-talented back Tipene Reweti scored a hat trick to put himself in the conversation of season’s leading try-scorer with Francisco Field.

Another player in that discussion is Jack O’Leary, who made some big busts in the midfield, while Jacob Gedye – the young lock who is the son of co-coach Russell Gedye’s – grabbed a double.

“Russell and I were really happy with them, the defence they showed was unreal,” said Cosford.

The scoreline blowout was not because Old Boys didn’t have chances – in fact they pounded Metro’s tryline for sustained periods.

“When the boys had to do the d[efence], they really d’d up,” said Cosford.

“It broke [Feilding’s] spirit a little bit.”

By contrast, when it was their opportunity, Metro were able to maintain possession – sometimes for up to 25 phases – to get the position to put players over the chalk.

“I think they’re hopefully peaking at the right time,” said Cosford.

“Got a bit of confidence about them now.

“They know they have to go wide, and do the work up front first.

“To see them putting phases to phases without mistakes is really heartening.”

But looking to test that resolve will be Feilding Yellows, who this time made absolutely no mistake in their semifinal with Dannevirke Sports Club, winning 38-14.

Back on July 4, the Yellows had blown a 19-5 lead to lose 21-19 to Dannevirke after putting on all their bench players, but rebounded the following week with a 24-12 win over Metro at Cooks Gardens.

Metro were behind the 8-ball but came back in the second half to tie it 12-12, before the Yellows scored two more tries to take the game away, after the home side had blown about four scoring chances out wide.

“They’re really our bogey team – since I’ve been involved we’ve lost to them three times,” said Cosford.

However, since that game, Metro’s execution with ball in hand has been much better, and they will be looking to send out several departing players as winners – like halfback Chris Ferguson, who has played for the team for the past five years.

Early rumours suggest the Marist and Kaierau clubs will be the main destinations for the handful of young men transferring to adult rugby next season.