Rugby: Clifton back notches up 100 games

Clifton utility back Liam Blyde credits his desire to play well and to represent his club for reaching a milestone in Taranaki premier rugby on Saturday.

The 27-year-old played in his 100^th match for Clifton in the side’s 53-31 loss to defending champions Stratford-Eltham at the Tikorangi Domain.

The younger brother of Black Ferns sevens star and new Warriors women’s representative Michaela Brake made his debut for Clifton in 2016 a year after he finished New Plymouth Boys’ High School.

He said he fulfilled his childhood dream and was proud of the achievement.

“All I wanted to do was play for Clifton and Taranaki,” he said. “To be able to achieve that has been great.”

Despite Saturday’s loss, which meant Clifton dropped down to fourth equal place on the table, Blyde had one more goal in mind before he moves to Abu Dhabi in August for a teaching position.  

“The next one is to hopefully get a championship and sign out a winner.”

During his career, Blyde started as a specialised halfback then went onto play in every position in the backline, including at centre on Saturday.

The 28-capped Taranaki rep said the premier competition had got younger as the years went on and put that down to more players playing overseas or finishing early.

“That’s probably impacted the physicality of the game as well.

“One thing that’s been great to see is more players getting contracted to the Bulls from club rugby, the coaches provide an opportunity for a player in each position during the club competition.”

He said during his earlier years, there would have been a maximum of “one or two”.

Naturally, the identical twin was disappointed about Saturday’s performance, where Clifton was out played by a fast-running Stratford-Eltham backline.

Two quick first-half tries laid the foundation for the central Taranaki team to launch from anywhere including set piece and after developing phases.

They eventually ran in seven tries to four to move into first place.

There were some promising signs for Clifton as their scrum appeared to have an edge, especially in the second half.

Daniel Fa’aseu scored two tries for Clifton.

In Hāwera, United picked up their second win of the season when they beat a struggling Southern side 35-0.

Coach Teihorangi Walden said he had been looking for an 80-minute performance and achieved that.

United were bolstered by the return of Hurricanes rookie Arese Poliko, while Viliami Tomu scored twice.

The last time United picked up two wins in a season was in 2020, a year after they won the competition.

A missed, late penalty kick deprived Tukapa of their seventh win of the season.

Larenz Tupaea-Thomsen had an opportunity to beat Coastal when the score was 20-19 with minutes remaining but pushed the ball wide of the uprights.

Coastal managed to force an error when Tukapa were on attack moments later to claim their fifth win.

In the final match of the weekend, New Plymouth Old Boys move into second place after a 40-10 win against Inglewood at TET Stadium.

Old Boys scored six tries to one. Rowan Slater dotted down twice.

This weekend, United hosts Clifton, Tukapa are home to Southern, Stratford-Eltham play Inglewood at home and Old Boys travel to Coastal.

The points after eight weeks are: Stratford-Eltham 18, Old Boys 16, Coastal 16, Clifton 15, Tukapa 15, United 8, Inglewood 5, Southern 4.