Blues beaten in season opener

Central made a shaky start to their 2025 Tasman Trophy premiership rugby campaign, losing heavily at Trafalgar Park, Nelson today.

The Blues, last season's losing finalists, were beaten 56-14 by a Marist outfit who made the most of the chances that came their way.

On the other hand, Central were unable to convert their opportunities, leaving them trailing 22-0 at the halftime break. They managed a couple of tries in the second spell, to front row replacement players Quinn Harrison-Jones and player/coach Quentin MacDonald, but generally struggled for combinations as they seek to introduce a slew of new players to the side.

Quentin said, "[the result] obviously wasn't ideal. Our forwards mixed it up well though, but their backs were pretty classy and they got the bounce of the ball on a few occasions which didn't help. Having said that, our physicality and defense wasn't where we wanted it to be ... but they are easy fixes.

"We do have to go back to the drawing board, but there were definitely enough positives to build on ... we have a very new team so it will take some time.

"As we said, 'you don't win the Tasman Trophy in the first week' so we just have to front against Kahurangi next week in Blenheim and just keep getting better with each outing."

He singled out the inside back trio of halfback Logan Philip, first five Clyde Paewai and second five Ben Filipo for special mention, along with tough-tackling loosie Jack Kelly.              

Last season's Tasman Trophy winners also crashed to a heavy defeat.

Defending champions Kahurangi had 12 players on debut and, after a promising start, were overwhelmed 43-15 at Sports Park, Motueka.

It was much closer at Greenmeadows where Stoke held off Nelson 29-24.

Both sides scored four tries and Nelson camped inside Stoke’s 22 for the last 10 minutes, seeking the match winner.

In the last play of the game, the much-improved Nelson side was penalised at scrum time on the hosts' goal line.