The Hawkins cup, for the winners of the first round in the second division, was at stake, as Lyttelton took the field on a sunny Christchurch winters day last Saturday. All the hard work and preparation of the players, and especially coaches Brendan Nolan, Aaron Mitchell and Dave Garrets, has been building up to certain moments in the season, and winning the first round was one of them.

Lyttelton only needed one point from their final match against HSOB to claim the cup, after a strong season to date only suffering one loss to Lincoln University in 13 matches. A fired up HSOB team were looking to prevent Lyttelton from gaining that point. The match started with a tough battle between the two forward packs, with the home side gaining ascendancy up front, getting go forward for the backline to attack. Lyttelton were clinical at set piece and displayed patience within structure which lead to 5 unanswered tries. Lyttelton won the match 39-6 with key figures first five Brendan Nolan, wing Alistair Toto and prop Liam Bartholomeusz, leading by example.

The focus for the team now is defending the title of grand final winners, and to do this Lyttelton has to continue their strong run through the second round. Players always mention how important the supporters are to their success, and hope this continues.