The Hutch, in honour of Barrie Hutchinson, coach extraordinaire to both us and University, and the only coach to date to win a Gallaher Shield at two different clubs.

The Weasel today is incapacitated and watching the game on Auckland Rugby's online site and has left it to his lovely replacement, The Ferret (not as in Felicity), to make the comments on the game.

Cometh the hour, cometh the man.

When you need a job done, you can rely on retired centurion and club legend Roger Fuaaletoelau, who donned the Waitemata colours to put in a man-of-the-match performance against a very good University team at Waitemata HQ.

Whilst the final score of 52–0 looks a blowout, the home side, playing with only two on the bench, gave as good as they got. There were several eye-catching performances: Liam Campbell throwing great darts to unleash a backline that was full of running; Max Dillion giving his outsides the best opportunities to put the visitors under pressure with some great passing and kicking options.

Kyan Alo at fullback continued his outstanding form alongside centre Kokeiolani Siasau, who defended expertly, while Cooper Sinton put in a great shift in the unaccustomed position on the wing.

Up front, number 8 and skipper Levi Vaituliao just gets better and better each game. Zenith McGrath would run into a concrete wall if you asked him to, but in their time of need, the leadership and experience of Fuaaletoelau was invaluable, especially around such a young group.

Plenty of positive takeaways to take into next week.

To add to the Ferret's comments, this was a gutsy effort as we had run out of props due to injury, and in stepped our local cop Roger, who leads this young group. When his calf gave out at halftime, the local faithful gave him a rousing reception for doing the Roger thing!!

The Weasel laughed at one stage when we were given a penalty option. Roger had just got his arms around the hooker before you could say "scrum option", and University had some big timber there as well.

We had enough territory in this game but couldn't put a finishing touch on the opportunities, as we either dropped the ball or gave up a penalty for Varsity to relieve the pressure.

Next week is playoffs and we have Manukau out at Williams Park where, if we strike a southerly, the place can get cold and very windy.

The Weasel will hopefully have recovered and left the hospital bed and his walker to make the trip out to Williams Park.