Spotlight on Southland Sport: Sunday Special
The Southland Tribune does its best to wrap some key moments in the Southland sporting weekend. Enjoy.
Club Rugby: Trio of teams make clear statement
Woodlands, Pirates-Old Boys and the Barbarians look to have assembled squads that have some depth and quality about them, and that theory was simply backed up on Saturday. [READ MORE HERE].
Te Tamaki, as close to the long-awaited Super shot as possible
Ever since the former New Zealand Sevens player joined the Southland Stags in 2018 there’s been talk of his Super Rugby prospects. The knocking on the door of Super Rugby has gradually got louder year by year. Is he now just one injury away from it finally opening? [READ MORE HERE].
Stars align for a special 83rd Highlanders appearance
Few sportspeople get to act out the fairytale script they may have come up with in their head. Josh Bekhuis’ story however fits the bill. It’s a heck of a good one. (READ MORE HERE).
SBS Bank’s treat….
The Highlanders held a special skills and drills session for a group of lucky Southland kids on Saturday at Southland Girls’ High School. The session was held after the Highlanders’ held its captain’s run at Rugby Park in Invercargill.
It was a special event for SBS Bank members as the Highlanders players passed on some tips and mingled with the kids.
SBS is the Highlanders’ front of jersey sponsor and played a lead role in bringing Super Rugby back to Invercargill for the first time since 2019.
Injured star confident crowd can lift struggling Steel
You would be hard-pressed to find anyone more delighted about the Ascot Park Hotel Southern Steel playing on home turf this Monday night than George Fisher. Not being courtside with her teammates has proved to be a tough gig for the injured shooter – exacerbated by a trifecta of challenging losses. (READ MORE HERE).
And then there were two….
Appleby and Invercargill-Old Boys will against contest the 2022-2023 ILT Premier League Southland club cricket final.
Invercargill-Old Boys had already booked a spot in the decider and on Saturday Appleby joined them when it beat Waikoikoi by eight wickets in the sudden-death semifinal fixture.
Appleby restricted Waikoikoi to just 121 batting first with Ryan McFaul left stranded on 48 not out.
Opening bowlers Keiran Lloyd and Connor Hart both picked up three wickets each.
When Waikoikoi has Appleby two for 33 with both openers removed for single digits there was some hope.
However, Lloyd (70*) and Aaron Hart (24*) put on an unbeaten 90 run third wickets stand to get Appleby home with ease.
Infront of Appleby now is an Invercargill-Old Boys team that will go into Saturday’s grand final as warm favourites.
The two teams squared off in last season’s decider and it was Invercargill-Old Boys who banked a 145-run win.
The two teams also met just a week ago in the first round of the playoffs and it was Invercargill-Old Boys who also won that game, although by just 25 runs.
Masters cyclists scoop medals at National Championships
A dynamic duo of Cycling Southland riders picked up numerous medals at the Masters Track National Championships that took place in Cambridge over the weekend. (READ MORE HERE).
Day 1 wrap: Little starts strong in Super Trucks at Teretonga
Alex Little of Upper Hutt drew first blood as the NAPA Auto Parts NZ Super Trucks fought out their first race of the weekend at the Southern Thunder race meeting at Teretonga Park in Invercargill on Saturday. [READ MORE HERE].
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100 up for Wyndham….
The Wyndham Harness Racing Club celebrated 100 years at the weekend, an impressive effort for any rural sporting organisation.
Included in the celebrations was the running of the Centennial Cup race which was won by Wheels Of Fortune. For a full wrap of the Centennial Cup check out Bruce Stewart’s wrap for Southern Harness Racing. [READ MORE HERE].
Queenstown-based Sarah Douglas, who represents Southland, won the women’s title at the New Zealand mountain-running championships at Mount Maunganui at the weekend.
She won in 59:11 from Maia Flint of Wellington who ran 60:31.
Douglas didn’t know going into the race how she would go; “I prefer the all up hill, but today I felt pretty strong on the downhill. I probably went a bit harder on the first lap than I intended on doing, but I felt really good so I decided just to roll with it and hope that I would hang on okay.”
Meanwhile, at just 15 fellow Queenstown-based Southland representative Siena Mackley finished second in the under-20 field.
Douglas is our Tribune Sportsperson of the Week.