Club Rugby: Simmers, Kahukura grab late game-deciding tries
The latest round of round-robin fixtures has simply highlighted the closeness of the competition in the race for the 2023 Galbraith Shield title.
The top four teams in Southland’s premier club rugby competition - Eastern-Northern Barbarians, Woodlands, Pirates-Old Boys, and Marist - are locked in for a playoff spot in a fortnight.
And the latest round of round-robin fixtures has simply highlighted the closeness of the competition in the race for the 2023 Galbraith Shield title.
Logan Savory wraps up the action.
Boy does the Eastern-Northern Barbarians know how to find a way to win.
The Gore-based team headed into Saturday’s showdown with Pirates-Old Boys unbeaten. Earlier in the season they had drawn with Pirates-Old Boys and also snatched a victory over Marist in the dying moments.
On Saturday the Barbarians delivered another Houdini-type act, this time toppling Pirates-Old Boys at the Gore Showgrounds.
With time up on the clock, and down 15-12, the Barbarians were hot on attack and playing with a penalty advantage.
It prompted Levi Emery to chance his arm and put a cross kick in which found midfielder Angus Simmers out wide to score the matchwinner.
It meant the Barbarians went from 12-0 down in the first half to win 17-15.
The Barbarians had camped themselves in Pirates-Old Boys’ half for pretty much the entire second half and finally got the job done when time was up.
“Even in the first half we had quite a bit of ball, but we were a bit average. We conceded a couple of soft tries in the first half,” Barbarians coach Bretton Taylor said.
“The second half we got our act together. We seem to play our best when we are under pressure in the last 10 minutes, to be honest. We seem to play better and make less mistakes when the pressure is really on, so I think that’s a good sign.”
The victory locked in a home semifinal in Gore which for the Barbarians is a big plus.
“It’s a pretty good feeling to have a home semi locked in, for a lot of reasons.”
The Barbarians’ ability to finish strong in games has been aided by what is a strong bench. The Barbarians, and probably Pirates-Old Boys, have the most playing depth in the competition it seems.
Tight-head prop Tom Scanlan has been a key off the bench this season, while on Saturday the Barbarians were also able to introduce lock Woody Kirkwood into the game with 30 minutes to play.
It was his first outing for the Barbarians.
Kirkwood, who has played for North Otago and has been a fringe Otago player, is in Southland pushing his case for Stags selection.
Saturday showed there is a fair bit of resolve in the group, although Taylor said he saw enough from Pirates-Old Boys to suggest they’ll be right in the hunt come the playoffs.
That’s despite losing back-to-back games to Woodlands and the Barbarians.
“They are still well in contention to win this thing. They are a good side and plenty of depth on the bench,” Taylor said.
One of the Barbarians’ standouts on Saturday was lock Brenton Howden who was playing his 100th game for the Barbarians.
The Barbarians and Pirates-Old Boys game wasn’t the only fixture decided by a late try in Southland’s premier club rugby competition on Saturday.
With time up on the clock, and down 24-17, inform Marist second five-eighth Keanu Kahukura went on a powerful run to score next to the uprights.
The Cullen Thompson extras locked the scores up at 24-24 with just a few minutes to play and that’s what the scoreline remained at fulltime.
For Blues, Saturday was an example of what they could produce with a pretty much full-strength lineup to call on.
The South Invercargill club has battled injury and unavailability for most of the season. With the bye in the final round and not being in semifinal contention Blues’ season is done.
The good news is Stags hooker Jacob Payne produced another strong performance for Blues after coming back from injury as he eyes an important NPC campaign.
The best player in the 2023 club competition, Michael Manson, also finished his club season with another strong showing and he too now turns his sights on the Stags.
For Marist, Kahukura was good for Marist shifting into second five-eighth, while 18-year-old wing Lotu Tanginoa was destructive with ball in hand. Upfront looseforward Olly Lawson got into his work.
Marist has one game left against Midlands to fine-tune its game before it plays either the Barbarians or Woodlands in the semifinal action.
Star has taken a step towards somewhat erasing a bit of a nightmare afternoon earlier in the season.
In April, in the first round of Southland’s premier club rugby competition, Star was tipped up by Midlands 24-22 at Winton.
It was the moment that really cemented Star’s struggles in its push for a semifinal spot this season.
On Saturday Midlands travelled to Invercargill for the return fixture against Star.
While both teams are well out of the semifinal hunt the game was played with plenty of intent.
And this time it was Star who got the business done on the back of a blitz early in the game when it led 12-0 inside the first 10 minutes.
At that point, with Midlands dropping off some tackles, it seemed inevitable a large score would mount.
But despite a challenging season in the top grade, there is a fair bit of fight in the Midlands unit.
They scrapped hard and finally got a bit of luck go their way when wing Lochie Earland latched onto an intercept and scooted in to score.
Midlands continued to work hard in defence but they found themselves up against a Star team which has finally found its attacking mojo late in the season.
Star run in a further five tries in the 45-15 win.
No 8 Jordan Stewart carried the ball aggressively and was just as strong in defence, while wing Hughan Sharp again provided glimpses of his attacking ability.
He had a good tussle with Earland on the wing who was one of Midlands’ best.
Star will finish its 2023 season on Saturday against Pirates-Old Boys at Surrey Park, while Midlands will wrap up its campaign against Marist at Marist.
Senior women’s final
Marist 43 - Midlands 10
Division One
Waikaka/Riversdale 20, Wyndham 19
Edendale 44, Drummond-Limehills-Star 10
Pioneer 50, Albion 31
Tokanui 67, Te Anau 0
Division Two
(CJ Soper Memorial)
Ohai-Nightcaps-Otautau 29, Pioneer 15
Waikiwi 29, Mossburn 26
Bluff 29, Waiau Star 11
*Riverton a bye
(Life Members Trophy)
Blues 33, Marist 31
Wakatipu 25, Pirates Old Boys 24
Star 61, Midlands 12
*Woodlands a bye
President’s Cup
Tokanui 38, Riverton 5
Waikaka 33, Wyndham 5
President’s Quarter-finals
Mataura 56, Pukerau 7
Waikiwi 40, Collegiate 12