Club Rugby: Woodlands lock away 'Scruffy' Butt for another year
“The Scruffy Butt means a lot to the club and the team. [Jason Rutledge] talked about it a bit on Tuesday night because when you’ve got younger guys coming they don’t know what you are playing for."
Southland’s premier rugby clubs took to the fields on Thursday night for some midweek round four action. Logan Savory wraps up how the three Easter week games played out.
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Woodlands’ dominant start to 2023 continued as they banked their fourth straight bonus point victory on Thursday night.
But more importantly to them was the fact they locked away an important trophy for another year.
Woodlands beat Star 25-12 to bank the five competition points and retain the Scruffy Butt Memorial Shield.
The shield - played between Star and Woodlands - is put up for grabs each year at the holder’s first home game of the season.
The shield is named after the late Phil “Scruffy Butt. Butt played 100 games at prop for Southland between 1970 and 1980.
He played his club rugby for Star and had a strong association with the Woodlands area.
Woodlands coach Richard Jones said that was the focus this week.
“The Scruffy Butt means a lot to the club and the team. Cabbage [Jason Rutledge] talked about it a bit on Tuesday night because when you’ve got younger guys coming in, they don’t know what you are playing for and how it is important.
“It’s good to have some of the older guys reinforce that. We are happy we locked it away for another year.”
While Woodlands scored four tries and got themselves out to a 25-0 lead at one point Jones said they certainly knew they were in a battle, physically, with Star.
That was led by Star lock Josh Bekhuis who has been with the Highlanders but lined up against Woodlands on Thursday night.
Bekhuis didn’t just bring a physical presence himself but seemed to also lift those around him in the Star pack.
Star did manage to finish the best to score two tries to bring the fulltime scoreline to 25-12.
Remarkably Woodlands has scored a whopping 33 tries through their first four outings in 2023, although if there’s one blip it’s in the goalkicking stakes.
After kicking just two from seven conversions the week before against Midlands it landed just one from four conversion attempts against Star.
When you’re running in the amount of tries Woodlands are at the moment it doesn’t really matter, although come the top-of-the-table clash against Pirates-Old Boys next week every point could well be vital.
Pirates-Old Boys coach Ben McHugh says if you were charged a gold coin donation to watch what played out on Thursday night at the Les Geroge Oval you probably wouldn’t have been all that thrilled.
His team won 24-7, after leading 12-7 at halftime.
It’s a scoreline which flattered Pirates-Old Boys and while disappointed with his own team’s performance McHugh was the third straight opposition coach to pay credit to Midlands, and in particular the spirit the Winton-based club is playing with in 2023.
“They are not far away. To Midlands credit they rolled the sleeves up and it was a ding dong battle. For 50-60 minutes Midlands were right in it.”
“If they tidy up a few areas they are going to challenge teams. They are bloody physical. They are by far the most physical side we’ve played,” McHugh said.
As expected, it was the Midlands pack that brought plenty of energy and a high work rate. Although Midlands’ backline - with the likes of Te Hura Wilson and Henry Earland - handled themselves pretty well against a strong Pirates-Old Boys backline.
No 8 Hayden Haggerty was probably Pirates-Old Boys’ best on a tough night, while Jacob Harrex was another to impress.
Eastern-Northern Barbarians coach Bretton Taylor believes the 2023 Galbraith Shield race is looming as a much closer contest than many may have thought.
The Barbarians made it four from four to start its 2023 campaign with a 30-20 victory over Blues.
While the Barbarians led for the entire contest at the Gore Showgrounds the visiting Blues outfit made them work hard for it.
With some blowout scorelines in the first couple of weeks many were suggesting it was a case of Woodlands, Pirates-Old Boys, the Barbarians and then a decent gap to the remaining four teams in the competition.
Taylor didn’t think that would be the case given what has unfolded in the past couple of rounds as teams start to find their feet.
“I think the competition is going to be reasonably even. I know the first couple of weeks looked a bit alarming, but I think everyone has come back to the field now. I think that’s pretty positive.”
Taylor praised the work of young prop Mykel Sleeman in the Thursday night victory and said flanker Leroy Ferguson got through plenty of work.
Midfielder Angus Simmers continues to impress scoring a nice individual try, while halfback Jahvis Wallace was another strong performer in the win.
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