Club Rugby: 22 tries, two outings.... How's that for a start
“We are having a lot of fun, and we do that on Tuesday and Thursday at training as well, that is what rugby is about. As long as we can keep doing that, I think we’ll keep getting some good results."
Round two is done and dusted in Southland’s premier club rugby competition and Woodlands has sent alarm bells ringing for its rivals. Logan Savory wraps the action from Saturday.
If you haven’t already, please consider becoming a paid subscriber of The Southland Tribune to support us produce more Southland sports content like this and also get access to all of our paid subscriber content.
Woodlands has scored 22 tries through the first two week’s of Southland’s premier club rugby competition. Just take a moment to ponder how ridiculous that stat is.
After racking up 10 tries seven days earlier in its 62-5 victory over Blues, Woodlands piled on 12 tries against Marist at Miller St on Saturday to record a 70-12 victory.
It started inside the first minute when Tauasosi Tuimavave - playing at first five-eighth - produced some good acrobatics to score in the corner.
It was the start of a rampant afternoon for Woodlands against a Marist team down on troops.
Woodlands pushed out to a 41-12 halftime lead playing into a stiff breeze. Both of Marist’s tries came through intercepts.
With the wind behind Woodlands in the second half, it had the potential to get really ugly for Marist.
Woodlands did pile on a further five second-half tries to push the score out to 70-12 but thankfully for Marist Woodlands’ goal-kicking radar was a little off given it only converted five of its 12 tries.
The dominance stretched right across the park, from the scrum where Marist struggled to maintain their own ball, to the lineout, and out wide.
Centre Viliami Fine ran around like a Year 13 pupil taking on Year 9s (or third former in the old language). He was playing in a different league.
He swatted off most in front of him in attack and hit very hard in defence.
Woodlands halfback and captain Liam Howley said he was pleased Fine was on his team.
“I don’t know if there are too many bigger blokes running around club rugby. The best thing about Vili is he’s come in, got around the boys, and had a good laugh. He’s a bit of a joker.
“He’s made everyone feel comfortable and obviously we’ve got around him as well.
“He’s a great man off the field, as well as what he’s giving us on the field too.”
As Woodlands didn’t possess enough threats with the likes of Fine, Tuimavave, and Rory van Vught, they look like they have unearthed another exciting prospect on the wing in the form of Sione Baker.
Baker has got some speed about him a showed that again against Marist.
Howley acknowledged it was a lot of fun being part of the Woodlands group at the moment.
“Everyone was talking about our backline, but what our forwards are giving us at the moment is massive,” Howley said.
“We are having a lot of fun, and we do that on Tuesday and Thursday at training as well, that is what rugby is about. As long as we can keep doing that, I think we’ll keep getting some good results too.”
The only gloomy part to Woodlands’ crushing win was the loss of No 8 Blair Ryall in the first half to an ankle injury.
It could mean a decent stint on the side line for the Stag who looks to have bulked up this year.
Although Ryall’s injury did highlight an embarrassment of riches when Woodlands replaced him with former Otago NPC prop Jonah Aoina, who has made the shift south.
He slotted into the front row while fellow Stags propping option Paula Latu moved to No 8.
It was a tough outing for Marist, but hooker James Moodie tried his best to add some resolve to the Marist pack, as did loose forward Olly Lawson.
A try to Ben Pope with about a minute to play led Star to a thrilling, and somewhat controversial, 24-20 victory over Invercargill Blues on Saturday.
In a string of early season blowouts in Southland’s premier club rugby competition the province’s two most successful clubs - in terms of Galbraith Shield titles - battled it out to the 80th-minute mark.
Star led 12-7 at halftime before Blues took the lead midway through the first half and led 20-19 at one point.
That’s despite playing the bulk of the second half with just 14 players. This is where that controversial element comes in.
Blues lost one of its props to a calf injury at halftime and about eight minutes into the second half the replacement prop was also forced from the field with a shoulder injury.
Blues did not have any other props and the game went to uncontested scrums.
However, the referee made a ruling that Blues were unable to replace the injured prop meaning they played the remainder of the game with 14.
Blues coach Simon Frisby did not believe that was in fact a rule at the club level and would seek clarification.
Late in the game Star hammered at the home team’s line and after a series of phases eventually got the ball to Pope out wide to score the match-winner.
Pope had started the game at first five-eighth but was playing fullback when he crossed.
While it’s just two weeks into the campaign Star coach Craig Pullar acknowledged the importance of winning that tight one against a fellow semifinal contender.
“We’ve lost lots of those ones before,” Pullar said.
“It was a pretty scrappy game to be fair. The conditions didn’t really help, there was that blustery wind. [Our players] just stuck in the game and trusted their structures and got the win in the end. That’s probably the biggest thing.”
Pullar was again impressed by new fullback Cole Spinks in his second outing for the club. Spinks has moved south from Canterbury in an attempt to crack the Stags.
“Cole Spinks stood up again… He’s got a bit of x-factor about him.”
Despite the loss, Frisby praised the effort of his team, in particular while playing with 14 players, and at 13 at one stage because of a yellow card.
Frisby said it was a big step up from the 62-5 round one loss to Woodlands.
“Jay Renton showed a lot of leadership getting the boys refocused and talking about what is important to the team.
“We had a disrupted build up, but we’ve just got to realise that that could be the way things are for us at the minute…. Some of our boys were outstanding, all of them across the board.”
Wingers Brad Kooman and Michael Manson showed a bit of x-factor out wide, while loose forward Billy Andrew got through plenty of work.
Eastern-Northern Barbarians coach Bretton Taylor says Midlands has the ability to knock some teams over in 2023 after it pushed them hard for 80 minutes on Saturday.
Midlands is still finding its way at the premier level after the club decided to leave the division one ranks and try to establish itself in Southland’s top-flight club rugby competition.
The Barbarians are regarded as one of the stronger club teams at the moment but were put under pressure on Saturday in Winton despite leading throughout the game.
The Barbarians led 21-0 at halftime but Midlands avoided any sort of blowout in the second half while playing with the wind.
“They were better than I thought they would be actually. It was a very physical, competitive game.” Taylor said.
“I hope Midlands go alright. They go good against us, I guess they’ve just got to get up like that every week.”
“They hoed into it at ruck time… We always go over there and get a win but come away frustrated.”
Flanker Leroy Ferguson was a standout for the Barbarians. It was his first start in Southland club rugby after coming off the bench against Star.
For Midlands Jack Keen impressed at first five-eighth while Joe Robins as usual was a menace in the loose forwards.
DIVISION ONE
Tokanui 34, Edendale 31
Waikaka 30, Te Anau 12
DLS 27, Albion 19
DIVISION 2 LIFE MEMBERS TROPHY
Woodlands 36, Marist 26
Midlands 29, Wakatipu 22
Star 46, Blues 10