July footy means we are reaching the business end of the Auckland Club Rugby competition, and after a couple of lacklustre performances, the Varsity Premier side came to Shadbolt Park with a simple message – “take care of business and do your job!”. Given the horrific conditions over the past two weekends, the sun shining on a flat Shadbolt Park was just what the doctor ordered.

All week, Varsity had talked about playing “Varsity Footy” and finding their attacking mojo again. After starting the season 8 and 1, you would think the team is being very critical of themselves given their win-loss record. But the leadership group sought the tick of approval from the coaches to give the ball some air, in the hope of unlocking their attacking threats, and that they did.

The first half was one of Varsity’s best for 2022, moving the ball with slick hands and elusive running unlocked the Suburbs defence to run up a 50 nil half-time score. The attacking prowess of centre Noah Foster, winger Liam Brady, and fullback Sam Aitken resulting in 8 first-half tries – the majority in the right corner in which first-five Tyrone Elkington was successful in 5 from 8 kicks.

HALF-TIME: Varsity 50 – Suburbs 0

The message at half-time was simple – hammering home the importance of building for bigger and better things and not letting standards slip. Whilst Varsity couldn’t emulate the 50-point first-half effort, they did add a further 4 converted tries, with two coming from forward mauls. Suburbs wouldn’t go away without dotting down and were rewarded with their only try of the game towards the end of the game.

FULL-TIME: Varsity 78 – Suburbs 7

Standouts for Varsity included young wing Liam Brady, who made many telling breaks and was rewarded with a try. Second-five Nigel Gibb distributed and carried well. Centre Noah Foster was at his attacking best, breaking tacklers at will and scoring a superb solo try from 70m out. Flanker Will Bason was busy and dotted down twice. The list could go on and on, with all 23 members contributing to what was a dominant performance.

It’s hard to imagine that we have completed 10 rounds of the Goodyear Auckland Club Rugby competition, with Varsity and Ponsonby one win away from securing home a likely home semi-final. Grammar TEC and Manukau’s early season form has dried up a bit, but remain genuine contenders. Meanwhile, the race is on to join the top 4 from East Tamaki, Marist, Pakuranga, and Rifles still within contention.

Varsity faces Marist at Colin Maiden Park in their next game, which will surely bring a few old supporters out of the woodwork. Marist fresh off beating GtEC for the Waka Nathan Cup will fancy themselves, time will tell.