Spotlight on Southland Sport: Friday Edition
Plenty of sport to delve into in The Southland Tribune's first Spotlight on Sport offering. Enjoy.
Welcome to The Southland Tribune’s first Spotlight on Sport offering which we plan to bring to you most Fridays and Sundays.
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The legend of Southland sporting legends….
Can the Jason Rutledge story get any better? Yes; yes it can.
In 2020 Rutledge become the oldest rugby player to ever play for Southland when at 42 came off the bench against Hawke’s Bay in an NPC game. Just last year at 44-years-old he won yet another Galbraith Shield club rugby title with Woodlands.
But it doesn’t end there. On Saturday, at 45-years-old, he played in a Southland senior club cricket fixture lining up for the Southland Boys’ High School first XI against Metro. SBHS was down on troops for various reasons and Rutledge stepped in.
Rutledge believes it might have been his first game of senior cricket since playing for Metro in a club final in 1999.
His return 20-odd years later provided the unique situation where Rutledge got to playing alongside his eldest son Gregor in a senior club cricket game.
The real interest though is whether the pair end up playing a premier club rugby game together in the future. At 45, Rutledge Snr has no intentions of hanging up the boots, while Gregor is in his final year at Southland Boys’ where he’s a key part of the school’s first XV as an openside flanker.
You wouldn’t count against it happening.
For the record, Rutledge looked solid batting at No 11 with his six from 18 balls before being bowled trying to heave a delivery to mid-wicket.
Big time netball on its way….
Southland netball followers are bracing for an exciting taste-test to the 2023 ANZ Premiership with some of the world’s best netballers in action in Invercargill next weekend.
The Ascot Park Hotel Southern Steel will host Australian franchise the New South Wales Swifts and the ANZ Premiership defending champions Te Wānanga o Raukawa Pulse at ILT Stadium Southland from February 4-7.
In the international stakes, the Swifts team features Australian Diamonds players Paige Hadley, Maddy Turner and Sarah Klau and England Roses shooter Helen Housby. Former Jamaican superstar Romelda Aiken adds a towering presence to the mix, while former Diamonds midcourter Maddy Proud injects a wealth of netball nous.
Silver Ferns in action will include Steel’s Kate Heffernan, who was named midcourter of the tournament at the recent Quad Series in South Africa, and Pulse players Whitney Souness, Maddy Gordon and Kelly Jury.
How good netball fans?
Shaun Fitzgibbon shuffles back into retirement….
Shaun Fitzgibbon stepped out of retirement, provided yet another glimpse that he’s one of Southland cricket’s finest, before popping back into retirement. (READ MORE HERE)
The little farmlet with a big cricket reputation….
Situated 20 minutes from Gore and 10 minutes from Tapanui, Waikoikoi is a town of hundreds rather than thousands, and that's being generous.
The town features a war memorial, a church, a hall, a small primary school and a cricket club, which remarkably fields two teams each Saturday in Southland's senior and Combined Country competitions.
Waikoikoi doesn’t just compete though, it can lay claim to plenty of titles. The latest came on Sunday in Southland’s senior club T20 competition.
It beat Appleby by 36 runs in Sunday’s decider at Queens Park. Batting first Waikoikoi posted 129 for nine from its 20 overs with long-time Southland club cricketer Rhuebyn Prattley providing another glimpse of his power. He struck 42 from just 21 balls.
In reply, Appleby struggled being bowled out for 93. Ashleigh Harrison was the pick of the Waikoikoi bowlers with his 3-15 from four overs.
The focus switches back to round 10 of the ILT Premier League 50-over competition on Saturday.
Stags Snippets…..
Close to nine years after his last game for the Highlanders it seems Josh Bekhuis is in line to pull the jersey on again. Before Christmas the 36-year-old lock spent some time with the Crusaders as cover but now is on the Highlanders radar after Fabian Holland dislocated his kneecap.
Just when Stags midfielder Matt Whaanga had all but put an end to his professional rugby ambitions, and instead concentrate on employment away from rugby, the Hurricanes came calling. The Hurricanes have called the 25-year-old in to cover injuries.
Stags prop Paula Latu is another on Super Rugby duties at the moment. The Tongan loosehead has joined Moana Pasifika in Auckland for its preseason.
The Director of Rugby search…..
Rugby Southland is expected to announce its new Director of Rugby soon. The job has been created to oversee performance programmes from under-16 up to the Stags.
Applications closed on January 10.
The Tribune understands former Black Ferns coach Glenn Moore and former All Black Mike Brewer are amongst the names in the mix.
A two-time Ranfurly Shield winner with the Stags and former Highlander is another understood to be interested.
Five-time Galbraith Shield winning coach and Invercargill lawyer Damian Pine chucked his named in the hat, but it doesn’t seem he made the short-list.
Gore to Invercargill: Jamieson sprints to classic win
Magnus Jamieson sprinted home in first place to take the win in the Stonewood Homes Gore to Invercargill Classic on Thursday night. The event, organised by Cycling Southland, is New Zealand’s longest running club classic road race. (READ MORE HERE).
From the Archives…..
While we are on the topic of the Gore to Invercargill Classic lets head back to 2015 and recall when Grant Colbran won it ahead of Darryl Haggerty and Shirlene Rollo, in a field that featured Tour de France rider Tom Scully. (READ MORE HERE)
Keep an eye on….
Southland has produced plenty of rising athletics stars over the years, and it seems there’s another one floating around in the form of Cody Lawson.
The 14-year-old Southland Boys’ High School pupil impressed at both the North and South Island Colgate Games recently.
In Timaru, at the South Island event, he picked up four gold and two silver medals. The weekend before at the North Island Games he placed 2nd in the 400m, 3rd in the 200m (both times beating the current Southland best performances in his grade), 5th in the 100m and 2nd in the 100m hurdles.
Bright future ahead.
The Sporting Weekend…..
(Out & About)
The 2023 Southland District Rugby League competition starts on Saturday. Four teams will line up this season which are: Cowboys, He Tauaa, Cooks, and Southland Fiji.
Round One: Cowboys v He Tauaa, 1pm at Star Rugby Club + Cooks v Southland Fiji, 2.45pm at Elles Rd.
Head out and have a look.
(On The Couch)
Here’s one for the insomniacs. The Black Caps will play its first of three T20s against India starting at 3am on Saturday morning. The second will be played at 3am on Monday morning.
The Southland connection?
Our very own Jacob Duffy is part of the New Zealand squad for the series. The 2021 Southland Sportsperson of the Year had a tough night out in the 3rd ODI this week when he went for 100 from his 10 overs. He did pick up three wickets, for what that matters.
Hopefully, Duffy gets another crack in the T20s and we’re backing him to bounce back.
From the bird cage….
It’s a big weekend for the Wairio Trotting Club on Saturday with the running of the 2023 Wairio Trotting Cup at Winton.
The Cup has attracted a field of eight, including Macandrew Aviator who won the recent Northern Southland Cup. It will start off 35m alongside Sand Wave who won at Gore on December 27.
The first race is scheduled to start at 11.55am, with the Wairio Cup at 4.07pm.
In case you missed it….
Tribune born: Welcome to day one of The Southland Tribune, a project that's looking if we can do journalism a little bit differently in Southland. (READ MORE)
Family man: Earlier this week we shared Peter Mirrielees’ journey where he talked about hitting rock bottom because of alcohol, which included being overlooked for a Highlanders contract, to now helping inspire others. (READ MORE).
