Wests Crocodiles v Orgies Magpies – transferred to Kelburn Park at 10 am

After a week of snow, hail and ice, the powers that be transferred the game from the Polo Ground (one of Wellington's better grounds) to slightly muddy Kelburn Park, at a later time. A dry day and little wind meant that the 6 degree air temp was not too debilitating but there were some very cold hands!.

Ories were short players and with good grace Katieri volunteered to play for them. From the kick-off Ories showed the kind of form that made them so formidable last time and scored an early try from a strong run. In an amazing "replay" of the last game, the Crocs responded by scoring next in the same manner.

The Crocs had started well; forwards driving together to deliver good ball to Lachie playing at half back (our mobile, lighter forwards Ciaran, William L and James were putting their bodies on the line); the backs also began by handling well but met determined tackling from the opposition. The Ories forwards were strong and aggressive in the maul and very competent at ripping the ball. From these turnovers their quick, capable runners were a real threat. There were some good tackles and attempts at tackles by the Crocs (Isaac, Sashin, Will F, Ben and Lachie leading the way); in one memorable moment Ben chased a long way to rip the ball from an Ories player just on the line and when a try looked certain. However, with so much ball, Ories eventually wore down the Crocs defence and ran in several tries.

The Crocs were showing periods of good play that could result from following the game plane and better execution, and there were good strong runs from Isaac (resulting in a fine try to him), Ben and others. The half time score of 55-10 however, told a clear story. Not enough ball retention then not enough tackling.

At half time, the Crocs welcomed Katieri back into the fold. He responded with his strongest runs of his season and made valuable yards for the team. Boston also featured with the ball in hand and had our supporters roaring with a strong run which took him oh so close to the line, only to be well tackled. Even with two additional players and a never say never spirit, the Crocs were up against it. While strong running brought a couple of second half tries, the Ories team continued to play well with very skilful passing, catching and running.

Full time came slowly and found the score line 90-20. While easy to focus only on the Crocs' play and areas needing improvement, it must be remembered that Ories are a good, physical and skilled side.

Final score: Crocs 20, Magpies 90 (half time: 10-55)

Captain for the Day: William Laurenson

Player of the Day: Katieri Sului

Most Committed Player: William Ferrier

Try scorers: Ben Laurie 1, Lachie Krebs 1, Isaac Guile 2

Wests Crocodiles v Poneke Slammers, Kilbirnie Park

The Crocs notched up their seventh win of the season today. We turned up to Kilbirnie Park with only 9 players and were fortunate enough to be loaned 2 players from the Slammers to even things out at 11 players each.

For the second week in a row the Crocs got off to a fast start. We didn't scored directly from the kick off like last week but we may as well have. The ball was run back strongly at the Slammers and within a few rucks Sashin Parag crashed over for the opening try. It was pretty much one way traffic in the first half and it appeared that the 2 Slammers on loan to the Crocs were 2 of their better players. The Crocs dominated the first half. Again, we swapped players positions and moved another couple of forwards into the backs. Boston Gutsell-Bright ran strongly at centre and had his best match of the season. He was a deserving Player of the Day. We went into the break leading 35-5.

The Crocs continued to play strongly in the second half and finished the match winning 55-15.

Highlights of the match included Wellington's smallest under 9 prop James St Clair and his willie-aways from the line out, forward drives from the lineout and setting the backs away, the backs running straight and passing the ball through the back line. Ben Laurie continue his remarkable try scoring run, Lachie Krebs was strong at second five-eighth, Sashin Parag ran and tackled hard, George Sims cleared the ball well from half back, Isaac Guile must have made 25 tackles and Ciaran Lynch made a great jinking run. Our Most Committed player today was James St Clair who made a number of great runs.

Our thanks to the Poneke Slammers Thomas, Nelson and Woody who helped us out and ensure that we had even numbers for the full match.

Final score: Crocs 55, Steelers 15 (half time: 35-5)

Captain for the Day: William Ferrier

Player of the Day: Boston Gutsell-Bright

Wests Crocodiles v Johnsonville Steelers, Alex Moore Park

The Crocs have had a habit this season of playing some teams into form. Today was no exception. It all started well. Some tactical positional changes were made and the team was feeling confident from the start.

The Steelers kicked off. The ball went straight to Lachie Krebs and he charged back at the Steelers, took off to the outside and scored. The Crocs also scored the second try of the match. Isaac Guile ran hard on to the ball and broke through a number of tacklers to score. But from that point the Steelers fought back strongly and some weak Crocs defence saw us down 15-25 at half time.

The second half was much of the same. The Crocs competed and everyone got involved but there wasn't the passion or commitment in the forwards of last week against a much stronger team. We won the second half but it wasn't enough. The Steelers scored a try with just a couple of minutes to go and the Crocs lost 30-35. The Steelers certainly played a lot better than their record of only one win before this match would suggest.

Sashin Parag was again the main stay of our defence making a number of important tackles. Lachie Krebs enjoyed the move to the backs and ran strongly all day at second five-eighth. Player of the Day was Ciaran Lynch who has grown in confidence each week since being moved into the forwards and was involved in all the tight play. Our Most Committed player was William Laurenson, another who is much more involved now he's playing in the pack and had his head down in every ruck and maul.

Final score: Crocs 30, Steelers 35 (half time: 15-25)

Captain for the Day: Aidan Homewood

Player of the Day: Ciaran Lynch

Most Committed Player: William Laurenson

Try scorers: Ben Laurie 2, Lachie Krebs 2, Will Ferrier 1, Isaac Guile 1

Wests Crocodiles v Johnsonville Cougars, Ian Galloway Park

The last weekend of the school holidays is always challenging to have enough players. Even with a squad of 14 the Crocs only had 10 players for this week (we also lent a player to the Cheetahs who were really down on numbers), so everyone had to stand up and play for 50 minutes against a strong Cougars team that had only lost one match all year.

And stand up the Crocs did. Our forwards tore into their work led strongly by our captain for the day Ben Laurie and player of the day Lachie Krebs. The team competed strongly at the breakdown and the forwards brought out two new lineout moves – a forward drive and a willie-away, both execute perfectly. Yet the Cougars had a couple of strong ball runners and we found ourselves down 0-15 with some sloppy tackling in general play.

At this stage the character of the Crocs started to come through. In other matches this season such a slow start on the scoreboard has led to large defeats. But our team was competing and next thing half back Sammi Ammar ran the ball from our own goal line and fended too many people to count as he ran down the side line for a length of the field try. While the Cougars scored another try and we went into half time 5-20 down we were very much in the game.

The Crocs got the very important first try in the second half with Ben Laurie making a big run and then Will Ferrier finished off some hard forward work to score our third – 15-20. The Cougars came back at us and their fast backs made a number of strong runs. Both teams traded another try each and it was 20-25 with a few minutes left. The Crocs attacked strongly and in the last play of the match Ben crashed over for what everyone believed to be his third try and a match leveller. Unfortunately, the Johnsonville referee saw things differently and the match finished with the decision that the ball was held up over the line.

The side line commentators all agreed that this was by far the Crocs best performance of the season. The team played with structure and they were unlucky not to draw, and in fact they really did enough to win.

It was fantastic to see everyone contribute for the second match in a row. The boys have heeded their instruction – get tackled with the ball. James St Clair maybe the smallest 9 year old prop in Wellington but he made 3 great runs (like the winger he usually is). The coaching staff have realised that Ciaran Lynch has been out of position all season and now that he's in the forwards his game gets stronger each week. William Laurenson also seems to be enjoying the forwards, especially when he gets to run the willie-away.

Our most committed played this week was Sashin Parag. Sashin was strong at first-five, organising the backline and a terrier on defence. He stopped a number of threatening attacks and was unlucky to have Will Ferrier neat him to touch the ball down for a second half try.

Final score: Crocs 20, Cougars 25 (half time: 5-20)

A big thanks to Croc Isaac Guile who played for the Wests Cheetahs this weekend as they were short of players. I'm told that Isaac played a blinder and scored 3 tries. Thanks Isaac for helping the Cheetahs (and the club) when they were short of players.

Captain for the Day: Ben Laurie

Player of the Day: Lachie Krebs

Most Committed Player: Sashin Parag

Wests Crocodiles v Wellington Axemen, Te Whaea Artificial Turf

The Crocs roller coaster season continues. After a disappointing performance last week some changes were made and boys asked to play in different positions in an attempt to get them more involved in the match. The tactics were also different with the goal for each player to be tackled with the ball 3 times each half (an attempt to have the team stop throwing unnecessary passes).

I'm very pleased to report this week that the changes worked. For a few weeks now we've been asking the players to put the effort into the match and be able to walk off the field and say they played as well as they could and today all of the boys stood up. Ciaran Lynch achieved the pre match goal of getting tackled with the ball and made some great runs doing it. Isaac Guile started the match with a great tackle, then made a second and a third before getting the ball and making a strong run for a try. Boston Gutsell-Bright got stuck into the mauls and made a crunching tackle (on Aidan Homewood while he was loaned to the opposition). At one stage we had our usual forward pack making up the entire backline and it was great to see that they knew how to position themselves and run strongly with the ball.

Isaac was a standout today and had his best game of the season by a long way. He was a deserving player of the day. Our most committed player was Ben Laurie. Ben performs consistently well every week and his 4 tries today took his season tally to a massive 30 – more than one third of all the tries the team has scored this season.

Final score: Crocs 45, Axemen 20 (half time: 25-10)

A big thanks also to Crocs Katieri Sului and Aidan Homewood who both played a half match each for the Axemen as they were short a player. Katieri played some of his best rugby of the year while running against us!

Well done Crocs on a very strong team performance. Remember how to do it because you'll need to repeat that every game for the rest of the season.

We'll skip practice this week given there's no match during the holidays. Next practice will be Wednesday 27 July, 5pm. Our next game is Saturday 30 July. Enjoy the holidays!

Captain for the Day: Boston Gutsell-Bright

Player of the Day: Isaac Guile

Most Committed Player: Ben Laurie

Try scorers: Ben Laurie 4, Sammi Ammar 2, Harry Jones 2, Isaac Guile 1

Wests Crocodiles v Wests Wolves, Ian Galloway

In one of the most bizarre twists of fate the Crocs/Wolves game this week was transferred from Kelburn Park TO Ian Galloway – something that's never happened before as it's usually the other way around.

Unfortunately that was about as good as it got for the Crocs though as they produced one of their most uninspiring performances of what's becoming a roller coaster season. Nothing seemed to go well, the forwards weren't committed to the ball and allowed the Wolves to blow them away at the breakdown and the back seemed to have left their hands at home (though admittedly the ball was very muddy and slippery). The other thing we did poorly was throw the ball away in the tackle hoping that someone would be there to catch it.

The Crocs only played as well as there were allowed by a committed Wolves team that had a lot more commitment at the break down and was very determined in their running.

Some of the Crocs did play well but they needed support from the rest of the team. Ben Laurie continued his try scoring blitz in under 9 rugby scoring a handful for the third time this season. The only other try scorer was player of the day George Sims who made some crunching head on tackles plus some other try savers in the corner to go with his 4 tries. The most committed player today was Boston Gutsell-Bright who showed just what he can do when he gets stuck into the tight forward play.

Well done Wolves on a most deserved victory 45-70.

Captain for the Day: Ciaran Lynch

Player of the Day: George Sims

Most Committed Player: Boston Gutsell-Bright

Try scorers: Ben Laurie 5, George Sims 4

Wests Crocodiles v Poneke Mustangs, Polo Ground

The Crocs were very fortunate to be transferred to the Polo Ground No.1. The team warmed-up in calm, ideal conditions on a near perfect surface. The pre-game drills were done at pace and with precision and good concentration – the boys were just continuing their efforts from the intense Wednesday training session.

Immediately from the whistle, the Crocs showed that they meant business, aggressively pursuing the ball and showing some muscle in the mauls winning a number of turnovers. Ben Laurie, George Sims, and Will Ferrier were leading the charge but all the forwards were playing a much tighter game as had been asked of them. After a number of strong individual runs, effective mauling and good teamwork the Crocs were quickly two tries up. The tries were being created from pressure and aggressive running, especially by the forwards breaking from the maul. At half-time, the Crocs found themselves leading 25-0 with Sammi Ammar continuing his great run of form and Sashin Parag controlling the first-five position like a veteran.

The ball had not however been passed through many hands and, despite the ideal conditions, the game had been limited to a forward battle (to which the Crocs backs had actively contributed when required). At half-time the boys were asked to showcase some of the running, passing game they have shown glimpses of.

It may have been this change in tactics or the Poneke team talk but the Crocs were rocked by two early second half Poneke tries. The Poneke team had displayed a number of strong aspects in the first half – especially their tenacity in the tackle, strong running with ball in hand and the ability to pass well even under pressure; these together with a flat patch from the Crocs gave the momentum to Poneke.

There was an urgent need to turn this around and to the entire team's credit this occurred. There was more aggression at tackle and maul, impressive claiming of space around the tackled ball (Will Ferrier showing the way here) stronger, more direct running and a keenness to pass and create space for the outsides. George Sims, Lachie Krebs, Will Ferrier, Sammi Ammar and Ben Laurie were prominent runners after good work from all the players created opportunities. Ben and George showed exceptional support and finishing skills –George's scoring dive in the left hand corner stunned all on and off the field and was a clinical finish where he looked to have little chance to touch down.

While the backs had a relatively quiet day they were all keen contributors to tackling and, where necessary, mauling, and impressed with a willingness to run the ball up and take the tackle.

The game lost a little shape towards the end but the Crocs were in control for the last quarter of the game. However, the final score 50-15 did not reflect the closeness of the teams nor the effort required by the Crocs to subdue a feisty Poneke side in which a number of the smaller players and girls excelled. The game was played in excellent spirit and the quality of the play and sportsmanship was a credit to both teams.

Crocs' highlights: Mauling, claiming the space at the ruck, presenting the ball when on the ground, strong, direct running

Crocs' things to work on: Tackling, body position and protecting the ball in the tackle, looking to use the backline and to pass to space

Captain for the Day: George Sims

Player of the Day: Will Ferrier

Most Committed Player: Aidan Homewood

Try scorers: George Sims 3, Ben Laurie 2, Sammi Ammar 2, Will Ferrier 1, Lachie Krebs 1, Sashin Parag 1

Wests Crocodiles v MSP Miramar Fliers, Kelburn Park

It was a tough day for the Crocs on Kelburn Park in the mud. Our first ever game of tackle last season was against the MSP Miramar Fliers and after a slow first half the boys had a great second half and ended up losing by one try. This year we were hoping to turn the tables on MSP as the Crocs are a very improved team from a year ago. It wasn't to be.

Like last season we had a terrible first half and found ourselves down by 30 points at half time and staring at our fourth loss in a row. However, we have first-hand experience this year in a team turning around a large half time deficit to win and a tough team talk saw some resolve in the second half. We ended up losing 35-75.

There were some pleasing things about the game. A number of our tries were real team efforts. The best seeing the ball go through the back line and a great draw and pass (the first ever from the team) from George Sims to put Harry Jones in for an unopposed 30 metre sprint to the line. It was a beautiful thing to watch.

Tackling and ball retention were a real issue. Not one try the MSP team scored involved a pass between their players – it was all individual running. Our tackling was too high all day.

Only two players stood out as having played as well as they could. Sammi Ammar was out player of the day for the second week in a row and was always dangerous with the ball in hand. Ciaran Lynch is new to rugby this year and was in the middle of everything all day and one player making some tackles.

We've got a few weeks of hard work now to get back into the winning way.

Captain for the Day: Isaac Guile

Player of the Day: Sammi Ammar

Most Committed Player: Ciaran Lynch

Try scorers: Ben Laurie 2, Harry Jones 2, William Ferrier 1, George Sims 1, Lachie Krebs 1

Wests Crocodiles v Wests Cheetahs, Ian Galloway Park

Another tough "local derby" against the strong Cheetahs team and the match didn't disappoint. Both teams played very hard and tore into each other with the Cheetahs scoring the first two tries of the match and were on the front foot. The Crocs held on and fought hard. Will Ferrier scored a break away try before half time and we went into the break 5-10 down and a real tough task to get up and win.

The Cheetahs were fast out of the blocks and continued to throw themselves into ruck and maul pushing the Crocs forwards around. They quickly scored another two tries and the Crocs were down 5-20 with only 15 minutes left in the match. This led to a great spell from the Crocs and two tries of individual brilliance. The Crocs were scrambling behind their goal line when Will Ferrier got the ball, burst clear and ran the length of the field to score. A couple of minutes later Harry Jones got the ball and made a great, weaving run beating a number of tacklers to score and we were right back in it at 15-20 with 10 minutes to go.

Unfortunately that was the end of the Crocs run and two late tries were conceded through uncertainty on our own goal line. The final score 15-30 to the Cheetahs.

While a loss this was a very good match and the Cheetahs did have the go forward during the majority of the match and deserved their win. The Crocs did play for 50 minutes (unlike the previous two weeks) and tried hard. Sammi Ammar continues to improve and grow into his first year of tackle rugby. He made a number of good runs and tackles where he refused to let go of the ball carrier and fully deserved his player of the day award. The forwards all got stuck in and there was some good structure to the team. It's great to see the forwards in doing the hard work and the backs understand they need to get out of the way and form a backline. With quick ball and a backline in place the opposition will be in trouble.

In the pack there were strong games again from Will Ferrier, who scored two tries. George Sims was strong with the ball and the Cheetahs found him hard to bring to ground. Lachie Krebs was out most committed player, his head was in the ruck and maul driving all the time and he made a number of great tackles. Harry Jones made a comeback after three weeks on the side lines and had a strong match, especially in defence and Sashin Parag continues to impress with his all round game on attack and defence.

Captain for the Day: James St Clair

Player of the Day: Sammi Ammar

Most Committed Player: Lachie Krebs

Try scorers: William Ferrier 2, Harry Jones

Wests Crocodiles v Wests Jaguars, Te Whaea Artificial Turf

The Crocs started this week's match like the team of old and not the one that got hammered last week. The forwards ripped into their work led by Will Ferrier who wouldn't let anyone near the ball in ruck and maul. The team worked hard. Players made tackles. The backline was organised and in position to run and pass. Ben Laurie found space and scored three great tries. Aidan Homewood had his best game this season, tackled everything and was in the right place to scored his first try of the year. Isaac Guile also scored his first try of the season.

The Crocs went into the half time break leading the Jags 30-5 and in a very good mood after last week. We should have called the game off then.

I don't know what the Jags coaches said to their team at half time (or what they put into the water!)? But the Jags came out a totally different team. They ripped into the Crocs with huge energy and gusto scoring eight second half tries and blowing the Crocs off the park. The Crocs had no answer to this and ended up losing 30-45. Well done Jags.

During the second half the Crocs lost all formation and while George Sims and Sashin Parag tackled their hearts out, James St Clair made a blistering run and Sammi Ammar had his best 25 minutes of rugby it wasn't enough and the team didn't play as a team. The ultimate game of two halves and a real lesson for both sides – a 25 point lead at half time isn't enough...

Captain for the Day: Katieri Sului

Player of the Day: Aidan Homewood

Most Committed Player: Boston Gutsell-Bright

Try scorers: Ben Laurie 3, William Ferrier, Isaac Guile, Aidan Homewood

Wests Crocodiles v Ories Magpies, Hataitai Park

What a difference a week makes. Unfortunately for the Crocs it wasn't a positive difference. After playing one of their best matches ever last week the Crocs didn't fire at all against a strong, but definitely beatable, Ories team.

The first half was competitive with both teams struggling to make tackles. Whoever had the ball usually scored and the Crocs went into the break down 20-35 but were still in the match. However it all fell apart in the second half and the score blew out to a massive win for Ories 20-80. This ended an 11 match winning streak for the Crocs going back into last season. The challenge now is for the team to pick themselves up and get back into the groove for next week.

Player of the day was Ben Laurie who continued a good run of form lately and was always dangerous with the ball in hand. Hooker, Isaac Guile, our most committed player, was in the middle of everything and was one player making some tackles.

Onwards and upwards for our next match....

Captain for the Day: Lachie Krebs

Player of the Day: Ben Laurie

Most Committed Player: Isaac Guile

Try scorers: Ben Laurie, George Sims, William Ferrier, Lachie Krebs

Wests Crocodiles v Poneke Allygators, Te Whaea Artificial Turf

The Crocodiles had an early start up at the artificial turf this week. Luckily the rain had basically stopped but the wind hadn't and we could have done with the lights being on!

The Allygators are a team of younger players all playing up a grade due to their size. Most are first year tackle grade players. However, you wouldn't know it. They were big and tough and this was the most physical match the Crocodiles have ever had to play. The Allygators ran hard and while not having the best tackling technique they scragged well. They also taught our players a lesson in commitment when we had 2 players run past the last defender and slow down before the line only to get tackled short – something that we don't want to see happen again!

Given all this the match would have been the best the Crocodiles have ever played. They stood up to the physical nature of the opposition and matched them. The Crocodiles tackled their hearts out and dominated the breakdown winning most of the ball. Player of the day William Ferrier was inspirational in the pack refusing to go backwards. Ben Laurie finished like a champion being in the right place to score 5 tries and George Sims made more tackles today than he has made all season.

This was a game in which every player can be proud that they stood up and gave their best in a very tough match. The final score was 30-15 to the Crocodiles.

Captain for the Day: Sammi Ammar

Player of the Day: William Ferrier

Most Committed Player: George Sims

Try scorers: Ben Laurie 5, Harry Jones 1

Wests Crocodiles v Poneke Cyclones, Ian Galloway #1

On a warm, sunny Saturday morning the Crocodiles enjoyed playing on the great surface that is the number 1 ground at Ian Galloway against the first of 4 Poneke teams that we will face this season. Last year we played the Cyclones twice and they were both competitive matches. This season was no different. The Cyclones tackled and defended their line like their lives depended upon it. At one stage the Cyclones managed to pick up and push back 3 Crocodiles in a row who had crossed the line. The score was 10-10 at half time.

The second half was a different story. The Crocodiles got used to not having the coach running behind them barking orders, sorted their positional play and used their superior fitness to run the Cyclones ragged and ran in another 7 tries. Once again Ben and Harry led the way with try scoring.

The entire team turned up to play today. Many had their best match every for the Crocodiles. William Laurenson made some brave runs and scored a great try. Our Player of the Day was James St Clair, our speedy winger. When he got the ball he made ground and was unlucky not to have scored. Most Committed was Katieri Sului who was in the thick of the forward play and always had a big grin on his face when he got the ball for a run.

Captain for the Day: Sashin Parag

Player of the Day: James St Clair

Most Committed Player: Katieri Sului

Try scorers: Ben Laurie 3, Harry Jones 3, George Sims 1, William Laurenson 1, William Ferrier 1

Wests Crocodiles v MSP Southern Saints, Evans Bay Park

The Crocs crossed town to take on the MSP Southern Saints. The team did a lot of work at practice during the week on winning the ball at rucks and mauls as well as running and passing with purpose. In the end the Crocs were too strong for the Southern Saints winning 50-25.

The Crocs put on a great performance. Once again the tackling was outstanding and watching the team run, pass and set others up for tries was fantastic. It was great to see everyone in the team contribute and a great improvement from the week before.

Player of the day was our captain William Laurenson who had probably his best all round game ever for the Crocs. Most committed went to Ciaran Lynch in only his second ever game of rugby. Ciaran seemed to be at the bottom of every ruck and maul hunting for the ball.

Try scorers this week: Harry Jones 5, Will Ferrier 3, George Sims 2.

Wests Crocodiles vs Wellington Axemen, Ian Galloway Park #3

The Crocs had a great start to the season beating the Axemen 60-30. It was business as usual for the Crocs in a continuation from last season with a lot of determined tackling and great ball running, especially from Ben Laurie and Harry Jones. The score didn’t reflect how tough the Axemen were. The Crocs definitely need to improve their ball retention in the contact area as the Axemen won those contests easily. However, the Crocs were far superior in their finishing with a number of team tries where many players touched the ball.

Sashin Parag had a great first ever game of rugby making a number of telling tackles and was not afraid to run the ball back at the opposition.

Captain for the Day: Will Ferrier

Player of the Day: Sashin Parag

Most Committed Player: Harry Jones

Try scorers: Harry Jones 7 tries, Ben Laurie 5 tries