Southland touch teams fly province's flag proudly
The Southland under-16 mixed touch team won six games from six outings on its way to a semifinal spot at the Youth Nationals.
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Southland’s best young touch players have flown the province’s flag proudly on the national stage with one team falling just short of a New Zealand title.
The Southland under-16 mixed touch team racked up six wins from six games during the round-robin phase at the Youth Nationals in Auckland.
Those wins came against Thames Valley, Auckland, Counties Manukau, Waikato, North Harbour, and Whanganui.
That booked the Dennis Thompson-coached team a spot in the semifinals on Sunday morning but unfortunately, they lost 5-4 to Nelson in a tight contest.
It set up a playoff for third with Bay of Plenty which turned out to be an absolute thriller.
With the score locked up at 3-3 at full-time, the game headed to extra time where each team had to drop-off players until a winner was found.
The game got down to three on three before Southland grabbed a touchdown to lock in a 4-3 victory and third place at the national tournament.
Meanwhile, the 2024 Southland under-18 mixed team was attempting to make it back-to-back titles in the grade after Southland won that title 12 months earlier.
Southland started the title defence in impressive fashion winning its first three games in Auckland.
However, one-point losses to Manawatu and Nelson meant Southland missed out on the semifinals.
Instead, Southland then beat Waikato to advance to the playoff for fifth against Nelson.
The scores were again locked up at the end of normal time and went to an extra time drop-off to find the winner.
Unfortunately for Southland, it was Nelson who was triumphant winning 9-8, and Southland had to settle for sixth place.
