Southland Sport
Southland/Otago Competition results from games played at the SDRL grounds , Elles Road, Invercargill last Saturday. Write up courtesy of Southland District Rugby League.
In the first game of the day we had He Tauaa up against University from Dunedin. Uni had gone through the Otago part of the local competition unbeaten and last week they faced their first defeat in their opening game of the Southland /Otago Competition at the hands of the Cowboys.
He Tauaa had a loss to South Pacific Raiders in their opener and both clubs were out to get there first win in the combined competition.
Uni started the scoring off with 3 quick unanswered tries , before He Tauaa finally crossed over for their first try. Uni hit back again through some bad handling from He Tauaa.
Uni were showing why they are the top team in Otago. Just before half time He Tauaa scored.
Half time: University 22 – He Tauaa 12.
Uni had less handling errors and mis-tackles than He Tauaa in the first half which gave them the edge they needed going into the break.
In the second half He Tauaa looked like a whole different team than they did in the first half. It was pretty much even on both sides, with the forwards leading the way and set up play for the backs to do their thing.
He Tauaa’s coach put out the call for his team to dig deep and his did just that, closing the score to 28 – 32 after being down by 16 points. With just over 3 minutes showing on the clock till full time. He Tauaa had their backs against the wall and with some strong play up the sideline they were able to cross over to win the game. This was a game of two halves.
Final score: He Tauaa 34 – University 32
In the second game of the day, Cowboys were up against South Pacific Raiders.
Cowboys and South Pacific Raiders were coming off wins in the first round of Southland/Otago competition.Cowboys came out firing and they got off to an early lead, before South Pac began to fire back.
South Pac got a few combinations going but just couldn’t finish off, due to a strong Cowboys defensive line. The powerful running from the Cowboys forward pack, with the backs moves making it hard to defend against.
Half time: Cowboys 32 – South Pacific Raiders 0
The half time score didn’t really show how tuff this game was to watch. It was a very physical first half, with some crunching tackles from both sides.
In the second half, Cowboys didn’t look like they were going to conceded any points. But South Pacific Raiders wanted to prove a point and when one of their young players put his body on the line only to be knocked out cold, seemed to lift his team and they were able to rebuild from where the left off last week.
But this was short lived and Cowboys showed why they are unbeaten so far.
Final score: Cowboys 46 – South Pacific Raiders 14