Saturday 18th, March 

Akarana Falcons continued their winning streak with a 44-22 win over the Wellington Orcas in round 3 of the NZRL National 20s competition.

Akarana opened the scoring account with a try from Nixon Leaso crashing over the line. Wellington quickly came up with their own points and saw prop Jahsiyah Tarrant Schuster off-load to Pharrell Gray, who broke through the Akarana defence line to score. Akarana managed to hit back with a try from Khalan Clyde, who dummied his way across the line.

Wellington were determined to get even with the points and saw Gray sprinting down the left edge towards the try line to score his second in the game. The defending champs were unwilling to go down and saw their winger Micaiah Teleaga score on the left edge.

Just before the whistle, Wellington’s centre, Gray, busted through the Akarana defence towards the try line. Scoring himself a hattrick and taking his team into the sheds with the lead, 18-16.

A few minutes into the second stanza, Akarana opened the score account with number 22 stepping his way to the try line. Akarana’s barrage of tries continued after that. With more tries scored from Juelz Baker, Clyde with his second and Leaso scoring a hattrick for the game.

With less than one minute to go, Wellington were determined for more points on the board and saw winger Laban Lealamisa over the line. After a tough back-and-forth contest in the first half, Akarana were too dominant in the second half. Wellington fought until the end, but the clock was not on their side this game. Akarana continues their winning streak ending the game 44-22.

Akarana Falcons continues their winning streak into the Semi-Finals of the national 20s.