Otahuhu Ellerslie Beat Bulls In
Thriller At Ericsson

In an absolute thriller at Ericsson Stadium this evening, Otahuhu Ellerslie grabbed a 38/28 win over the Canterbury Bulls.

Sustained pressure on the Bulls line in the first five minutes of the match saw the local side rewarded with a try to Wing, Apirana Ipo. The Bulls replied with try to Centre, Chris Newton. They followed up with another to James Ward. Both tries were a result of well executed back line movements. The Canterbury side grabbed their third through another to Chris Newton. This young fellow was shaping up to have a great day.

Otahuhu Prop, George Tuakura, put the home side back in the game and Thomas Zwart obliged with the boot to make it 14/10 to the Bulls. Just prior to the half time hooter, Chris Newton scored his third. A hat trick before half time - a pretty good effort.

18/10 to the Bulls at the break and it?s fair to say that this was a fairly good indication of the game.

Eight minutes into the second dig and the Otahuhu Dummy Half scored. Zwart again took the extra two points. Zwart scored one himself off a brilliant midfield bust and knocked over the conversion with ease. Otahuhu Ellerslie were playing with a huge amount of confidence and could definitely sniff a win. The Bulls were obviously frustrated and were giving away some very silly penalties.

Otahuhu Winger, John Tavaga, scored to take them to a 26/18 lead and the Bulls looked to be gone. Wrong - Chris Newton and his team had other ideas. Two blinding tries to the try scoring machine and the Canterbury side are in front 28/26 - unbelievable.

Otahuhu Ellerslie, however, had no intentions of losing this game. Tavaga scored his second of the day and Toshio Laiseni grabbed the last of the day. Both tries came from excellent kick returns and Thomas Zwart completed a great day at the office by converting both.

That was a fantastic game to watch. What can you say about Chris Newton - five tries for the day and every one of them appeared to be effortless.