Sports Department News
Long Bay V Massey Senior A2 - 21 August 2010 Lee Gosshawk
The Magnificent Seven versus Eleven - 7 August 2010 
Not content to spend the day defending, Massey swept onto attack early and drove 5 players forward into the opposition half whenever possible, creating several corner chances in the first half and forcing Pakuranga to pack their defence for long periods. This usually left only Wayne Tapu as the lone defender covering 3 strikers, and whenever Pakuranga broke onto attack Tapu would track back with them covering the passes, shepherd them towards the sidelines, and generally delay their attack until the other Massey players could get back in support. At half-time the scores were level 0-0 but unbelievably Massey had created most of the scoring chances. Coach Taylor gave them a simple message at halftime – keep control of the ball, keep supporting each other, and shoot early. Leaving one striker Travis Cadman up front in the company of 4 defenders, Massey started providing him with through-balls to run onto, none better than a lovely ball from Ali Ebadi which Cadman curved into the top right corner with a cracking strike. Soon after Cadman made it 2-0 and Massey knew the win was on. After making several strong saves in slippery conditions, keeper Jacob Houghton finally had Pakuranga get a strike past him, but with only 5 minutes left Massey was determined to hang on. Massey continued to scramble tirelessly in defence, none better than Abdul Ntwari and Russel Taylor in support of Tapu, while Ali Ebadi took ownership of the midfield and Greg Hackett had a late shot saved.
Fencing Success For Daniel Garelja - July 2010 Daniel has also competed in the NZ U15 Championships where he came 6th and has competed in many other tournaments. He is currently ranked 6th in NZ in his age group.
5th Gold Match Report Vs Westlake[2] - 19 June 2010
Tries: J.Aolele, S.Aipolo, T.Nau Conv: T.Castle 1/3 Pen: T.Castle 0/1 It is always better to win ugly than lose pretty and that is about all there needs to be said. The team played into the wind in the first half and after a dusty start, where a soft try was let in, began to dominate and scored two good tries to lead 12-7 at half time. Some loose passing and handling and some wrong option taking prevented the score from being more. The second half was mostly a shambles with a few bright spots amongst it. Taylor Nau finished off a good forward surge after being driven over the line by the forwards. Ken had a strong game and Jason played well at #7.Connor was prominent when he came on for the second half as was Peter. Junior had a strong game at centre but spoiled it somewhat with some wrong options. Sitiveni had a fine game at wing/fullback and William put in his best performance at wing both on attack and defence. If anyone has some consistency pills in their possession please feel free to contact me as it would be great to see the team put two good performances together in a row. Ian Warner
April 2010 Cycling Newsletter
Rotorua Football Tournament 2010 The pool that Massey High School were in contained MacLeans College who had won the competition for the past 5 years, St Peters from Cambridge (many people’s pre tournament favourite to win) as well as 3 other very competitive teams. The first game was against MacLeans and this was a closely fought contest. Massey was definitely the better team though and became stronger as the game went on. A 2–0 victory was an excellent start and this was followed up with 2 further victories against John Paul College and Bethlehem. At the end of this first day of competition the team had played 3 matches; scored 8 goals and not conceded any. A fantastic start.
The semi final opponents were Rotorua Boys who had played in a weaker and smaller group so had played one game less than Massey. By this time the Massey players were becoming very fatigued but managed to lift themselves for this game. Massey scored first but Rotorua equalised to make the game very tense. It looked at this stage that Rotorua, being fresher than Massey, would go on to win the game but our lads pulled some energy and heart from deep inside themselves and came back to win the game 2 -1. By the end of the game many were unable to stand having given everything they had but knew they had reached the final the following day. The other finalist was the host school, Western Heights High School. They were a good team who had qualified from, on the surface, an easier pool, had home advantage and massive support. Once again though the Massey team approached the game with the same spirit and work rate they had consistently maintained from the very first game. They totally dominated the match and thoroughly deserved to emerge as 2 -0 winners. Massey has entered teams in this competition for many years but this is the first time a team from the school have brought the trophy home. Congratulations to all the boys involved, they have been great ambassadors for Massey High School.
October Cycling Newsletter
Cycling Success - 22 September 2009 We have had a near perfect season weather-wise and Massey Senior Boys broke the Massey record earlier this year. They placed 4th over all and are well placed for Nationals. Each and every team has improved by huge amounts and JP has them all peaking at the perfect time. Thank you to all the team managers & parents for their input at the waterfront, this could not be done with out you. Nationals here we come! |
On day 2 the team knew that they would be facing St Peters first thing in the morning. There were a few tired legs from the previous day but the work rate put in was huge and in the face of constant intimidation and late challenges from the other team the boys prevailed and came away with not only a 3 – 1 victory but also the admiration and respect of coaches and officials from many other schools who were impressed with the way the Massey team conducted themselves. This game was then followed up by victory over the Western Heights 2nd 11 for a 100% record in the pool games and a semi final match up against the winner of pool 2 later that same day.
