NZ Universities Clock up first
World Cup win

Brisbane - The New Zealand Universities rugby league side began their Student World Cup campaign in emphatic form at Griffith University?s Nathan Campus by overwhelming Wales 46-nil on late Saturday afternoon.

The win was the perfect start for the Kiwi students defending its World Cup title as it scored eight unanswered tries including a hat-trick to the nippy 23 year-old Massey University Sport and Science student and right wing Tim Cahill.

The successful 1999 New Zealand Students World Cup side coach Trevor McLeod, who again is coaching this present side, believed the victory was better achieved than his side?s 46-10 win six years ago.

?Although we had no warm-up games prior to this World Cup the boys have already shown in the last few days that they gel together well with good commitment and communication,? he said.

After having to endure waterlogged practice grounds during the week, the NZU side made an excellent start with ball handling by going through eight completed sets of six tackles, before making its first mistake

NZU and Canterbury University hooker Jimmy O?Brien was in the thick of the scoring action early by sending a well directed pass out to allow Cahill in the right hand corner to score the first of his three tries in the 5th minute, before converting from wide out.

A short time later O?Brien kicked a penalty over and then put over a conversion in the 12th minute from his own try after his prop Aina Massina had nearly gone over himself from a fine solo run near the tryline.

The first quarter overall for Wales was a disappointment as it gave away needless penalties that gave NZU an abundance of possession on offence.

After losing its hooker Dewi Scourfield to a ten-minute sinbin from a professional foul, NZU scored its third and final try of the first half when its captain and loose forward Andrew Auimatagi broke through for a converted try with 12 minutes remaining until halftime to send his side out to a 20-nil lead at the break.

The start to the second half was a reversal in form for the red dragons as they held NZU scoreless for 18 minutes, before the inevitable momentum was regathered to result in the big Waikato University prop Adam Donaldson scoring by cutting back in on an angle from a well executed move.

Cahill collected his second try five minutes later after being fed into the gap from a fine run by his right centre Andreas Bauer.

The pair then linked up for the next scoring feat when Cahill gave out an excellent offload in a tackle to allow Bauer to one of only two non-converted tries in the game.

The last 20 minutes of the second half saw McLeod bring on three substitutes from the bench and it was this tactic of keeping his team fresh under a limitless interchange rule that led to New Zealand Universities scoring its seventh try when Otago University based player and NZU substitute Sione Taunga offloaded a sweet ball to allow Cahill to score his third try.

The final scoring act appropriately went to the New Zealand Universities scrumhalf Jamie MacDonald from a runaway solo effort right on the fulltime hooter, which was duly converted by O?Brien.

Wales coach Wayne Williams made no excuses after the game for his side?s big loss by stating that the NZU side was simply the better team.

?Our completion rate in going through sets of tackles was poor and due to the NZU side showing superior fitness in going hard all the way until fulltime, their momentum and bigger size counted against us,? he said.

O?Brien was named the New Zealand player of the match, while second-row Gareth Morgan collected the top player prize for Wales.

New Zealand Universities was also led by some excellent performances from fullback Paul Aitkens, right centre Bauer, standoff Mike Craig, props Chris Tupou, Henry Heke and substitute front rower Aina Massina along with second-rows James Koloamatangi and George Taunga and loose forward Auimatagi.

New Zealand Universities 46 (Tim Cahill 3, Andrew Aumatagi, Andreas Bauer, Adam Donaldson, Jamie MacDonald, Jimmy O'Brien tries; O'Brien 6 goals, penalty goal), Wales 0. Halftime: NZU 20-0.

In other results:

England 35 (M Ainscough 2, M Mullholland, K Till, S Edwards, A Clemie tries; M Ainscough 5 goals)

defeated

France 18 (M Chaabi, R Villa, G Tiquet tries; R Villa 2, D Vidal goals) at Suncorp Stadium.

Pacific Islanders beat Ireland 48-6

Australia defeated Scotland 66-4.

ROUND 2:

Tuesday, July 5: Griffith University (free entry Nathan campus) 6.15 pm France v Pacific Islands 8.00pm England v Ireland

Wednesday, July 6: Griffith University (free entry Nathan campus) 12 .00pm Scotland v Wales

Australia and New Zealand, two of the favourites in the competition will face up as the curtain raiser in the deciding SOO match on Wednesday night at Suncorp Stadium.

Suncorp Stadium 4.30pm Australia v New Zealand Kick off