Marist’s two senior teams will host the Invercargill Blues teams this Saturday at Miller St. The B teams will be playing in the curtain-raiser match at 1.15pm.
The Marist premier grade team will start favourites in the main event at 3pm, despite winning only one of their five games so far this season.
Marist is currently in fifth position on the points table ahead of the winless Blues.
Other than a couple of heavy losses to the competition's reigning champions Pirates Old Boys, Marist has been highly competitive in their games. The highlight for the club came in round three when they beat Woodlands 40-37.
Marist coach Derek Manson said his team was busy keeping their heads down and just worrying about themselves.
"Our core squad is very good, we’ve got threats right across the field but it is no secret that we lack depth. We are going to need some luck to avoid any more injuries."
Marist is without props Shaun Stoddart and Quinn Harrison- Jones this season but they have two handy replacements in Southland Stags prop Hamdahn Tuipulotu and former Otago prop Tevita Pole.
Marist also has a close association with Stags squad member Hunter Fahey who is playing his club rugby in Dunedin again this year.
Aleki Saili is another quality option in the second row but is doing a good job at blindside flanker.
Openside flanker Jackson Bevin has consistently been one of the competition's top performers this year.
Marist have a large group of players in the backline that can play in any position; young Riley Hika and Aiden Harrington are comfortable in the top grade after a couple of seasons under their belts.
Experienced Keanu Kahukura, Scott Eade and Curtis Tarrant have been joined this year by Henry Earland and Te Hura Wilson from the Midlands team.
The young Marist B team has lost all five of their games; three of those losses were by less than three points.
The Marist presidents’ grade team is combined with Bluff, the score board is not important in the gentlemen’s grade but the Muff won their first two games against Waikiwi and Pirates Old Boys.
The team has a game in Mataura on Saturday at 1.15pm.
- By John Langford
