Premier

Marist 33 – Blues 22

Another beautiful Southland day greeted players and spectators at Miller Street. Both Kelvin Hotel Marist and Blues were looking to bounce back after losses last week. It was Blues who started the better game when they swept down the left edge and found space to cross in the corner and take a 5-nil lead.

Marist swept onto attack though and scored 19 points in less than 15 minutes in what could only be described as “champagne rugby”. Off a nice set piece move Will Murray was rewarded for his abrasive approach with ball in hand when he crashed over. Moments later Marist made more ground down Blues right hand side and it was winger Bryce Morgan who scooted 20 metres and beat the cover defence to score out wide.

Pasilio Tosi then barged his way over after a good build up from the home team to take a 19-5 lead midway through the first half. Blues bounced back and scored two tries before the break to trail by just two points at halftime. Blues again came out the better of the two sides straight after halftime, however couldn’t strike a telling blow, going close on several occasions but not able to breach the resolute green and black defensive line.

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Marist were able to add to their account when wide-ranging lock Ben Fotheringham finished off some nice play down the blindside to give Marist a 24-17 lead. Second-five eighth Patelesio Oneone then added a further two penalty goals to stretch the lead to 30-17. Blues managed to gain a bonus point try in the final minute to make it 30-22 however it wasn’t enough, and Marist bagged another five competition points to take the win. Player of the day for Marist was stand-in first five-eighth Jeremy Boyle. Other to standout for Marist were Fotheringham, Oneone and Morgan. Andrew Wells (for his first Premier game) and cameraman/helper Aaron Davis were both awarded Marist ties at the after match. Mid-week rugby again takes centre stage this week when Kelvin Hotel Marist take on Pirates Old-Boys Thursday night 7.30pm at Les George Oval. Make sure you head out after work and cheer on the green and blacks.

Star 38 – Barbarians 41

As this is being written, offers are coming in from Paramount, MGM and 20th Century Fox (well they should be) for the movie rights to what happened on Saturday at the Gore Showgrounds. Classic sporting stories such as “Remember the Titans”, “The Mighty Ducks” and “Mean Machine” are going to be surpassed by the blockbuster “Remember the Mighty Mean Machine”, a movie that outlines a small group of men with tickers the size of Big Ben who overcome adversity to win.

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First, we have an ENC Baba’s team with no reserves with 10 forwards and 5 backs.

Within 2 minutes Star carve up the defence and score to be 7-0 up possibly an indicator that it is going to a bad day at the office, but then the Country men take control of the ball and score, not just one try, but 3 tries to James Matheson, Bill Christie and Brenton Howden then before Star reply with one of their own. Not to be outdone, Bill Christie dots down for his 2nd try in the 35th minute. Just to give this movie some sell factor, James Matheson takes over as the kicker and proceeds to caress through 3 out of the 4 conversions. There are yellow cards to Star (Brad Whyte 34th min) and Barbarians (Willy Short 39th min). Star manage to sneak another 7 pointer before the break giving a score of Barbarians 26 – Star 21.

With both teams back to their full 15, Star score in the 54th min to edge closer 33-26 following another try to Bill Christie. Scotty McKee then chimes in with a cameo appearance over the line in the 60th minute and with the kick hitting the upright, things get interesting, I’m talking edge of the seat stuff 38-26. And then Willy Short is given another team yellow meaning he’s off to check the hot water early with 17 to go. How is it going to be possible for 14 men to beat 15 and fresh legs off the bench?

A 7 pointer to Star in the 75th means that this movie will go from being deemed an action movie to a thriller, 38-33. Another try in the final minute looks like that’s “all she wrote” for the Green and Blacks however, a missed conversion means we are locked up at 38-38. But this is not going to be a blockbuster unless there is a final twist, the Babas get their hands on the ball after the kick off and refuse to give it back, rumbling up the paddock 30m with their trademark ‘pick & go’. A Star player going in off his feet gives referee Taylor Swan no option but to penalise them. Matheson can’t get the ball quick enough to slot the 3 points to give the Mighty Mean Machine Men immortality and a legendary 41-38 victory.

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For their part in history, Bill Christie (15pts) and James Matheson (16pts) were given equal POD points, but the South Pacific Meats POD goes to Jake Tawlor for his gutsy display.

The sequel will be played Thursday night versus Blues.

Woodlands 13 – POB 12

Division One

Riversdale 36 – Mossburn 5

Hard first half with Riversdale making simple mistakes at key times. Up 10 – 5 at half time with a good try to Morgan Will and a penalty to Willy Tree. Second half Riversdale managed to play most of the footy with some good defence from Mossburn and some agile passing from Riversdale’s tight 5. Haydn Blatch was strong up front carrying the ball. Brendon Cairns delivered a crisp pass from half back all game and Morgan Will did a load of work throughout the game. Nathan Bokser got two tries off the back of a dominant scrum.

Wyndham 47 – Midlands 0

Te Anau 7 – Waikaka 38

Waiau – Edendale 33

Division Two A

Albion Excelsior 17 – Blues 20

Gore was the place to be in Southland on Saturday as the two top pool teams in Division 2 met for the first time this year as Albion Excelsior hosted Blues in perfect conditions at the Gore Showgrounds. Blues opened the scoring early through a try within the first couple of minutes to Fili Hufanga after receiving a miracle offload from Lima Leiataua to score out wide.

Albion Excelsior hit back with a try themselves through some strong ball running through their forwards led around by their gun first five to level the scores at 5-5. Blues got stuck into their work and looked to continue some try scoring dominance from previous weeks which led to them scoring at the set piece through Lima Leiataua.

Southland Club Rugby Report regular Sam Hyde added another try to his season tally close to the sticks to put Blues up 17-5 at the half. With the loud inspirational crowd rocking all the black red and yellow gear on the side-line, Albion Excelsior put the first half behind them and looked energised which shocked Blues with an 80m team try. From there it seemed like it was one-way traffic for most of the second half until Blues kicker Jason Bishop slotted a penalty to put the visitors up by 8.

Albion Excelsior finished off another try to put them within 3 with 15 to go. With the hosts hot on attack for numerous phases and the intent on winning the game after a penalty kick within close-proximity of the sticks was turned down, Blues put on a defensive clinic to hold out Albion Excelsior to take home the win 20 -17 in what one can only assume was one of the most entertaining games of the 2018 season to date.

Wakatipu 24 – Pioneer 48

Waikiwi 21 – Star 57

Division Two B

DLS 44 – Marist 22

AWS Legal Marist Development again like in previous weeks put in a great 50 minutes of rugby but faded over the final quarter of the game to go down to a plucky DLS side in the curtain raiser. Marist were within striking distance right throughout the contest however couldn’t kick on and conceded a couple of late tries to go down to a good DLS side 44-22 on a good dry track. The team takes on Tokanui next weekend in what will be another tough encounter.

POB 22 – Woodlands 36

Riverton 34 – Tokanui 31

Division Three

Mataura 31 – Balfour Lumsden 0

Mataura travelled to Balfour on a beautiful winters day and in the end took their opportunities to record a 31- 0 result. Balfour-Lumsden put in a brave effort but failed to capitalise on their chances. Mataura scored early after only 3 minutes then Balfour-Lumsden held them out till the 17th minute making the half time score 12 – 0. However, there was a seesaw tussle till the 16th minute of the second half where Mataura finally broke through.

They scored again after 27 minutes then Balfour-Lumsden attacked for a long period, but a mistake saw Mataura break out for a length of the field try on fulltime. All the Balfour-Lumsden players toiled hard but none better than Chris Ponga closely followed by Grant Jenkins and Devon Davis. A trip to unbeaten Otautau is next week’s challenge for Balfour-Lumsden.

Otautau 98 – Collegiate 0

Central Bush Pirates 19 – Ohai Nightcaps 39

Bluff – BYE

Under 18’s

Gore High School Lazer Electrical Gore 1st XV travelled to Wyndham to take on Menzies on a good pitch on a beauty day. We were keen to see Gore set the tone early before the big Menzies forward pack got going and our coaches were pleased to see us go 7 – 0 up in the 4th minute after doing the basics right from kick off, a couple of strong runs in the middle before Jacob Harrex found space outside to dot down. Menzies worked hard on defence through the rest of the first half, but Gore went into half time with 8 tries under our belt. The second half saw a Menzies resurgence and spirited defence to hold us scoreless for the next 20 minutes before the pressure told and another 5 tries added to Gore’s tally.

Menzies went close to scoring twice in the same time with good running from their midfield backs and full back. Menzies were able to score a try from a short-range penalty and a hard charge from their tight head prop who no-one was ever going to stop from 5m out to give some credit to all their hard work leaving the final score 89-7 to the blue and golds. Stand outs for Gore were player of the day Jakob Harrex at No. 8, who on his 25th start game dotted down 4 times, Cameron Miller at 10 who slotted 85% of his conversions and took the ball to the game line in the face of some big defence and No. 12 Anton Musalov who created space and was difficult to bring down with his determined runs. Next game is in Winton with an early 12pm start against Central Southland College.

Source: Rugby Southland

Rugby Southland Club Rugby Wrap Up – 16th June

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