Blue skies greeted Kelvin Hotel Marist as they took on Blues yesterday.  Marist started the better of the two teams stringing together multiple phases before Phil Halder went over from close range to take a five-nil lead.  Blues struck back after some sloppy kicking from Marist allowed Blues to counter attack and take the lead 7-5.  Marist managed to get back into their flow and put together a nice passage of play.  A strong lineout drive led to Marist crashing over to make it 12-7.  The green and blacks were starting to find some rhythm and looked good with the ball for parts of the first half.  However against the run of play Blues picked off a Marist pass that would have likely led to a Marist try and regained the lead 14-12.  Just on the stroke of halftime a Marist counter attack which again looked like a potential try on the cards, was thwarted by another Blues intercept to give them a 21-12 lead at the break. 

Marist came out strong again after halftime asking several questions of the Blues defence.  A number of penalties meant Marist kept the pressure on in search of a try however some strong Blues defence stopped the visitors from scoring.  Marist did eventually strike though when right winger Bryce Morgan produced a nice finish in the corner after some nice handling in the build-up.  The conversion meant Marist trailed by just two points with 15 minutes to play.

Blues managed a penalty with just five minutes remaining.  Marist had one last crack in the final minutes to snatch the win however were not able to execute handing Blues a 24-19 win.  Despite the loss the team performed better overall than in previous weeks and were unlucky with two Blues tries coming against the run of play.  One bonus point means Marist still hold a five-point lead on the points table as the competition reaches the halfway point.  Man of the match was Phil Halder.

AWS Legal Marist Development were looking to close the gap on a red-hot Blues B team.  Marist started the game well and although they conceded two early tries the team played some good rugby and were rewarded when lock Simon Dowling barged his way over the line to make the score 12-7 to Blues at halftime.  Unfortunately Blues managed to again pull away late in the second half to take a comfortable win, but the Marist team never gave in with a number of younger players stepping up alongside the likes of Dom Rikiti and Stu Adam.  One highlight was the return of young halfback Harlam Heydon who returned to the field after a number of weeks out with a leg injury.  The team take on Pirates-Old Boys next weekend and will be looking to repeat their victory the last time the two teams met.  Player of the day for Marist was the mercurial Paddy Corkery.