Taieri 53
Zingari-Richmond 19
Taieri put on a clinical display to easily dispose of Zingari-Richmond in the Dunedin division 1 game at Montecillo on Saturday.
The Eels were too strong all round and did the basics well on the slippery ground.
Taieri, who led 22-12 at the break, played to their strengths and their set piece was too much for the home team, who went off the boil as the pressure went on in the second half.
Zingari had territory early in the second half but spilt the ball, and the visitors swept down field and scored shortly after through captain Matt Whaanga.
That gave Taieri the ascendancy and they dominated the rest of the game. They scored a couple of tries from lineout drives in the second half and flanker Caine Taylor scored the try of the day as the ball went through several sets of hands before he dotted down in the corner.
The Taieri scrum improved as the game went on and Zingari lost a couple of players to yellow cards.
Matt Whaanga played well in a Taieri backline that had the wood over its opposition, while the forward pack was always in control. Taylor got round the field and prop Jack Sexton had a solid game.
Zingari could not put much together and their kicking game was average at best. Discipline was poor at times and they could not create much continuity in their game.
Flanker Flavius Roberts-Villi got round the field but wingers Ben Fakava and Josiah Sakaria should have been used more.
It will be a dance of the desperates next week when Zingari travel to Miller Park to play Green Island.
— Stephen Hepburn
Southern 36
Green Island 5
Southern strolled to a comfortable win over an under-strength Green Island at Miller Park.
The Grizzlies had four players hobbling around the sidelines on crutches and their pack was a shadow of the one it fielded in the final last season.
But there was no mercy from the Magpies. They controlled the lineout, they were too strong in the scrums, they defended well when they had to, and they played some enterprising rugby despite the bleak conditions.
It rained hard at times, but first five Mackenzie Palmer displayed a lot of skill.
Palmer was as unpredictable as ever. Sometimes he would run it. Other times he put his team-mates into a hole with a fabulous pass, and his attacking kicks proved dangerous as well.
Experienced winger Josh Buchan dotted down twice.
Hooker Bede Dodd-Edgar tucked himself in the boot and scored twice from lineout drives.
Powerful loose forward Konrad Toleafoa made a solid impression at both ends of the field. He charged over in the opening half and flopped over for an old-fashioned pushover try in the second half as well.
Southern’s hard-working locks, Corban Agar and Aron Einarsson and captain Harry Taylor enhanced their reputations.
Green Island trailed 31-0 at halftime but rallied in the second spell.
They scored a consolation try but struggled to crack Southern’s defence.
Midfielder Riley Lucas carried strongly, and centre Michael Manson almost scored a brilliant individual try but knocked it on in goal.
— Adrian Seconi
Dunedin 23
Harbour 0
The game did not start well for previously unbeaten Harbour, playing into a howling gale, as they lost lock Ryan Palmer to a red card inside 30 seconds after a rucking incident with his brother, Dunedin lock Reuben.
Dunedin capitalised immediately when first five Cam Burgess made space for flying winger Oscar Schmidt-Uli to go over in the corner for an early lead.
The big winger had a second inside the first 15 minutes when he beat three tackles then ended up in a maul, which he somehow extricated himself from before bursting through three more tackles and scoring a remarkable try to give Dunedin a 12-point lead.
The Sharks bumbled their way through the rest of the half. They got on the wrong side of the referee with at least six offside offences and tactically made a series of poor decisions and squandered the wind at their backs.
Harbour played some smart, tough rugby into the hurricane. Their big forward pack ate up the metres in close contact, led by big prop Ben Fakataha and replacement loosie Jeff Irani.
Crucially, they lost first five Rique Milne inside the first 20 minutes, which would cost them dearly in the second half, but they would have been well satisfied only being down by a dozen at the break.
To Harbour’s misfortune, the wind subsided dramatically for a period in the second spell as the gods smiled on the Sharks.
Dunedin played a lot better into the conditions. Their pack won their lineouts and controlled possession for long periods.
Big lock Reuben Palmer, No 8 Hame Toma and young flanker Louis Lepionka led the way. Burgess kicked a couple of handy penalties to give them an unassailable 18-point lead with 10 minutes to go.
Right on fulltime, Dunedin hammered away at the Harbour line and young centre Joe Parkinson crashed over on the blindside to give them a 23-0 shutout.
Toma was at his most abrasive in the second half and was well-supported by Reuben Palmer, while Schmidt-Uli was Dunedin’s standout in the backline.
Prop Fakataha was probably Harbour’s best.
— Paul Dwyer
Kaikorai 40
University 14
Kaikorai set up their victory over University at Bishopscourt on Saturday with a first-half onslaught.
University suffered from the dropsies, particularly when hot on attack, while Kaikorai showed an ability to absorb pressure and suddenly swing on to attack, which resulted in all six of their tries.
Despite playing with a strong wind at their back, University delivered an underwhelming performance in the first half with a side affected by nine changes.
They faced a Kaikorai team intent on lifting themselves up the points table.
The Demons dominated the forward exchanges thanks to the lively loose trio of Gregor Rutledge, Slade McDowell and Lucas Casey. McDowell and Casey, in particular, proved dangerous from broken play, and each scored twice.
Casey’s second try parted the University defence. He made a sensational run from halfway.
McDowell’s second resulted from constant pressure on the University inside backs.
Right winger Rota Lafita proved a threat out wide, and his chip-and-chase try was another piece of individual brilliance.
A string of penalties brought University back into the game for the final quarter. Their first try came in the 70th minute when Mitchell Tinnock took a two-handed lineout take and the student pack mauled their way to the line, where Oliver Hatch dived over close to the posts.
Centre Josh Dent gathered in a well-weighted cross-kick to score soon after.
Hatch was one of the standouts for University at the breakdown, and Tinnock and Steve Salelea posed a threat in broken play.
Casey was the driving force for the Kaikorai forward pack. He was often found running into space and he gained valuable metres.
Props Henry Cleaver and Moana Takataka and lock Sidney Fidow featured up front. — Wayne Parsons
Round 6
The scores
Taieri 53
(Brady Robertson 2, Matt Whaanga 2, Caine Taylor, Michael Loft, Josh Whaanga, Kasimila Vaihu tries, penalty try; Joe Cockburn 2 con, Alex Honey con).
Zingari-Richmond 19
(Fionn Mckenna, Ben Fakava, Ryan Kreft tries; Tyree Mania con, Cooper Grant con). Halftime: Taieri 22-12.
Southern 36
(Josh Buchan 2, Bede Dodd-Edgar 2, Konrad Toleafoa 2 tries; Mackenzie Palmer 3 con),
Green Island 5
(Bradley McPate try). Halftime: Southern 31-0.
Dunedin 23
(Oscar Schmidt-Uli 2, Joe Parkinson tries; Cam Burgess con, 2 pen),
Harbour 0
Halftime: Dunedin 12-0.
Kaikorai 40
(Lucas Casey 2, Slade McDowell 2, Sidney Fidow, Rota Lafita tries; Ben Miller 5 con).
University 14
(Josh Dent, Oliver Hatch tries). Halftime: Kaikorai 26-0.
Standings
| P | W | D | L | F | A | B | Pts | |
| Taieri | 6 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 215 | 110 | 5 | 25 |
| Harbour | 5 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 126 | 111 | 3 | 19 |
| Southern | 5 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 191 | 128 | 5 | 17 |
| Green Is | 6 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 209 | 158 | 5 | 17 |
| Dunedin | 5 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 147 | 74 | 4 | 16 |
| Kaikorai | 5 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 173 | 141 | 3 | 15 |
| University | 6 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 187 | 204 | 4 | 12 |
| Zingari-Richmond | 5 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 151 | 224 | 3 | 7 |
| Alhambra Union | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 68 | 317 | 0 | 0 |
