Club Rugby: McKenzie cameo almost helps Woodlands clinch win
The Southland Tribune's club rugby coverage is brought to you thanks to the support of Regional Ford Gore & Balclutha.
Logan Savory wraps up Saturday’s action from week four of Southland club rugby.
Woodlands coach Richard Jones knows his team let a golden opportunity slip to topple the high-flying Pirates-Old Boys on Saturday.
Heading into Saturday’s game Pirates-Old Boys had amassed 124 points in three outings and had conceded just 20 points. That firmed the Surrey Park lads up as warm-to-hot 2025 Galbraith Shield favorites.
At 17-7 up with about 12 minutes to play on Saturday, Woodlands were forcing a rethink.
But as Pirates-Old Boys centre Jaye Thompson often does, he produced a moment that changed the game when he latched onto an intercept to scoot in to score and close the gap to 17-14.
Then it was experienced first five-eighth Greg Dyer’s chance to step up when he landed a long-range penalty and Pirates-Old Boys had quickly gone from 17-7 down to locking the scores up at 17-17.
Woodlands had a chance late in the game to push for victory but came up with an error and both teams had to settle for sharing the competition points.
“We weren’t satisfied that we played our best footy. [Pirates-Old Boys] are a really good team, but we felt like we missed an opportunity there, especially 17-7 with 12 minutes to go,” Woodlands coach Richard Jones said.
While Pirates-Old Boys were down on a few troops Woodlands had the luxury of calling on the experience of fullback Marty McKenzie for Saturday’s clash.
With his good mate Liam Howley making his 50th appearance for Woodlands Jones said it did not take much convincing to get McKenzie to lace up the boots on Saturday.
The 32-year-old former Super Rugby player proved an important asset as he and Dyer traded blows in the general kicking department.
“They are both quality footy players, and if we didn’t have Marty playing, we might have been under a bit of pressure. GD can really kick a ball, but Marty covered really well and would return serve,” Jones said.
Woodlands were also bolstered on Saturday with the return of midfielder Tauasosi Tuimavave who, along with Flecther Morgan, helped nullify Pirates-Old Boys’ dangerous midfield combo of Napo Seru and Jaye Thompson.
Duston Covoney was a standout for Pirates-Old Boys, while fellow looseforward Ezekiel Maheno was also good in his first game back following a lengthy injury break.
Some of the suggestions being bounced around the Southland club rugby rumour mill during the offseason painted a pretty bleak picture for Blues.
Blues had gone winless through their 2024 season which was the club’s 150th year in existence.
There was little hope provided by most that 2025 would be much different.
In fact, some of the talk went as far as saying Blues may struggle to field a team in the topflight.
Four weeks into the 2025 Southland premier competition and Blues aren’t just surviving - they are now being talked about as a potential playoff team.
Following a tight round one loss to Marist, on the back of conceding a late try, Blues have won two of their next three.
Both of those victories have come at the expense of Star. In a quirk of the draw Star and Blues have met twice inside the first four weeks of the competition.
At times on Saturday, a Star team down on troops and confidence threatened to put Blues away and gain a much-needed morale-boosting victory.
But the 2025 Blues team is proving hard to shake.
Star scored inside the first five minutes through Welsh hooker Thomas Curry and Curry added a second first half try as Star led 17-15 at the halftime break.
Star had its nose in front until the 55th mark when it all came unstuck as a spirited Blues outfit ran over the top of Star - literally and figuratively.
Blues scored three second half tries to Kelepi Holi, Connor Bolton, and Deacon Roberts to push out to a 30-17 victory.
The scoreline could have been much larger if the wind didn’t play havoc. Blues were unable to convert any of the six tries they scored on Saturday.
While Blues have struggled with frontrow depth this season their scrum was a dominant feature on Saturday.
A 31 points second half haul has propelled the Eastern-Northern Barbarians to a commanding 50-26 win over a Marist team that is probably better than its results to in 2025 indicate.
Barbarians coach AJ Aitken felt they probably weren’t at their best in the first half as his team held a narrow 19-12 halftime lead at halftime.
But the second half on Saturday again proved why the Barbarians will be a challenging prospect for any team that makes the trip to Gore.
“Marist are good, and they are probably going to get a lot better too,” Aitken said.
“Marist came to play but our second half was a lot better than our first. The intent is there it’s just a little bit of polishing and it should look nice for us soon, I reckon.”
The Barbarians’ strength is its depth, particularly up front. On Saturday they had the luxury of rolling off the bench a whole new quality front row, including Stags prop Morgan Mitchell.
On the flipside Marist is struggling with its frontrow depth and the game was forced to go to non-contested scrums at about the 60th-minute mark.
It was the second week in a row that has occurred with Blues’ lack of frontrow depth meaning they too had no choice but to go to uncontested scrums at about the 60-minute mark against the Barbarians.
“It is what it is, we can’t do anything about it,” Aitken said.
While the Barbarians have some quality upfront, they have also got some promise out widewith wingers Banuve Dretiverata and James Holland having strong games on Saturday.
(Premier Women)
Albion 56, Marist/Midlands 31
Blues 47, Lower Mataura Valley 0
Pioneer 51, Wakatipu 22
(Division One)
Albion 38, Te Anau 12
Wyndham 41, Pioneer 24
Bluff 29, Tokanui 24
Waikaka/Riversdale 30, Edendale 22
(Division Two)
Wakatipu 20, Mataura 0
Woodlands 59, Pirates-Old Boys 12
Blues 22, Star 20
Riverton 36, Waiau Star 12
Midlands 44, Drummond-Limehills-Star 5
Mossburn 24, Otautau-Ohai-Nightcaps 22
Waikiwi 64, Wrights Bush 7
Central Pirates 29, Collegiate 19