Club Rugby: Competition tipped on its head with bizarre midweek results
Marist, Blues, and the Eastern-Northern Barbarians locked in round eight victories in Southland's premier club rugby competition.
RESULTS
Marist 40 - Pirates-Old Boys 10
Blues 35 - Woodlands 31
Eastern-Northern Barbarians 14 - Star 6
Blues dished up a massive upset in Southland’s premier club rugby competition at Woodlands on Thursday night.
At the same time in Invercargill Marist was making a big statement as in the space of five or six weeks it has transformed its 2023 campaign from genuine embarrassment to realistic title contenders.
While out at Gore, Star gave the top-of-the-table Eastern-Northern Barbarians a real scare.
All three round-eight premier fixtures were played on Thursday night to free up the opening weekend of duck shooting for the players, officials, and supporters who like to take part.
Blues has had a horror season but might have just found the confidence booster it was after by knocking over Woodlands who had raced out of the blocks to start the season.
Blues scored three early tries - two of them to Michael Manson. And with Renton chiming in with two conversions and a penalty Blues held a 22-0 lead.
Woodlands eventually scored two first-half tries through Rory van Vugt and Cole Williams but Blues still found themselves in front 29-14 at halftime.
Woodlands took charge in the second half outscoring Blues three tries but it wasn’t enough.
While Renton banged over two second half penalties Woodlands were only able to convert one of its three second-half tries and Blues held onto the much-deserved 35-31 victory.
At Rugby Park, many were picking a tight tussle given Pirates-Old Boys lost just one game during round one, while Marist had won three in a row heading into the game.
But it was far from that tight showdown with Marist producing a dominant display. Marist pretty well had the game locked up at halftime when the Miller St boys led 30-10.
Pirates-Old Boys were kept scoreless in the second half as Marist pushed on to the 40-10 victory.
The impressive display on Thursday against Pirates-Old Boys caps off what’s been a dramatic transformation for Marist.
It was only a matter of two months earlier when Pirates-Old Boys put 50 points around Marist.
Meanwhile, the Barbarians were made to work hard to keep its unbeaten 2023 record alive on Thursday night again Star.
The Barbarians scored first to go up 7-0 but two Cole Spinks penalties closed the gap to 7-6 at halftime.
The competition leaders kept Star scoreless in the second half and managed to add a second try to lock in a hard-fought 14-6 victory.