Magpies find form to secure strong win

Southern 44  -  University 18

Southern eventually made the most of its dominance up front to run away from University in the third round of the Dunedin premier club competition at Bathgate Park on Saturday.

The Magpies might not have been feeling particularly buoyant at halftime, as they trailed 15-13 despite pulverising the students in the scrum.

Happily for coach John Leslie and the defending champions, they eventually turned that forward dominance into points, scoring four tries in the second half — including three in a devastating five-minute spell near the end of the game.

Southern was initially rather inaccurate and had just two penalties to show for its efforts before it scored just before and just after halftime, the latter from a dominant scrum and a sweeping move that led to a Jack Belcher try in the corner.

University, powered by energetic loose forwards Will Stodart and Aaron Withy, trailed just 20-18 with 25 minutes to play when the home side rolled on some powerful reserves.

Rising hooker Jack Taylor started the flurry of late scoring, and there was an entertaining 45m scamper from Ben McCarthy following a turnover.

McCarthy showed his outstanding kicking game and a cool head for Southern, while backline veteran Paul Tupai was everywhere.

Highlanders prop Ayden Johnstone put in a good shift, captain Harry Taylor was everywhere as usual and No 8 Ned Pene had a couple of bullocking drives.

Withy was one of the outstanding figures of the game for University. In the backs, Jermaine Pepe had a super afternoon at fullback and Jacob Waikari-Jones was tidy at first five. — Hayden Meikle

Taieri 50  -  Alhambra-Union 5

Well, 50 sure is a lot better than 99.

Alhambra-Union rebounded (sort of) from its wince-inducing 99-0 loss the previous week to put up much more of a fight at the North Ground.

AU trailed just 19-0 at halftime before rather running out of steam in the second half, as Taieri’s class in the loose forward trio and midfield proved too hot to handle.

Club rugby fans always enjoy seeing Highlanders at this level but the home side was probably not overjoyed at the presence of classy No 8 James Lentjes, who scored two tries and led the Eels with vigour and accuracy.

Lock Josh Hill was also prominent in the lineout and around the field as Taieri hit top gear in the second half, dominated territory and possession, and scored three quick tries to break the game open.

In the backs, young midfielder Josh Whaanga scored his second and third tries in premier rugby, and brother Matt showed the best of his all-round game.

AU fought hard in patches and got strong performances out of prop Ben Latu and openside flanker Keenan Rush, while Highlanders winger Mosese Dawai — playing at centre — scored a good try.

— Hayden Meikle

Green Island 34  -  Harbour 31

A superb all-round game from Green Island first five Finn Hurley, who scored 24 points, paved the way for victory over Harbour in a thriller at Miller Park.

After stamping his authority on the game in the opening minutes with two penalties and arguably the try of the season, Hurley played a major role in his side jumping to an 18-3 lead after 20 minutes.

Proving a handful for the Harbour defence throughout with his ability to wrong-foot defenders, Hurley played a major role in shutting down the danger posed by the Harbour backs, leaving Hawks right winger and former All Black Waisake Naholo starved of ball.

With Green Island having run rampant, Harbour began playing to its forward strengths at the end of the first half, amassing a quickfire 17-point haul to trail just 21-20 at the break.

Two penalty goals to Obey Samate and a try to No 8 Junior Foaitua gave Harbour the lead, and the Hawks were within sight of victory with just three minutes of normal time remaining.

However, Green Island showed some urgency and staying power as second five Esekia Satau powered over to lock the game up at 31-31.

Hurley then stepped up deep into injury time to slot a penalty to hand the home side victory.

— Wayne Parsons

Zingari lock Chris Bell (right) and Dunedin flanker Konrad lotu-L'iga contest a lineout during their premier rugby match at Forsyth Barr Stadium on Saturday. PHOTO: PETER MCINTOSH

Dunedin 38 - Zingari 15

This game took an eternity to play. There were far too many minor injury breaks, very slow restarts and players supposedly cramping in the second spell. This accounted for an extra 15 minutes of time, which is unacceptable at this level thus the game never reached any great heights and had little flow.

After an early penalty to Zingari Dunedin dominated territory and possession and spent a lot of the game camped in the Zingari 22. Their scrum as was the case in their two previous games was an attacking weapon and forced numerous penalties although some were against, which was bizarre. They only scored two tries in the spell, the first to first five Ben Paku and the second to omnipresent flanker Jay Davis. It was a combination of good Zingari defence and a lot of loose carries from Dunedin which stopped three or four more tries being scored. It was a loose carry late in the spell that led to Zingari hooker Aone Lolofie going over from a lineout move to reduce the lead to five at the break.

Big Dunedin winger Oscar Schmidt Uli blew the game open in the second spell with two tries in quick succession. The first was a stunner when he received a pass 60m out, burst through a couple of tackles and with two outside swerves to boot sprinted away to score. Dunedin also scored two more tries from lineout drives but butchered some with the loose-carry issue. Lolofie replied in kind for Zingari to bag a brace.

For Dunedin Schmidt-Uli was its best attacking weapon, closely followed by its scrum. Davis was everywhere and lock Reuben Palmer, though he only played 40 minutes, dominated the lineout and looks a lock of immense promise.

Lolofie was Zingari’s best, Simon Pupuali’i was strong on the carry and the versatile Shaun Driver was tidy at both halfback and fullback.

— Paul Dwyer

Results

Round 3

Southern 44 (Jake McEwan, Jack Belcher, Jack Taylor, Ned Pene, Ben McCarthy, Henri Mitchell-Collie tries; McCarthy 4 con, 2 pen),

University 18 (Jermaine Pepe, Jacob Waikari-Jones tries; Waikari-Jones con, 2 pen).  Halftime: University 15-13.

Taieri 50 (Josh Whaanga 2, James Lentjes 2, Josh Hill, Joseph Cockburn, Brodie Hume, Te-Korohi Rupene tries; Caleb Leef 4 con, Samuel Waitoa con), 

Alhambra-Union 5 (Mosese Dawai try).  Halftime: Taieri 19-0.

Green Island 34 (Finn Hurley, Oliver Haig, Esekia Satau tries; Hurley 2 con, 5 pen),

Harbour 31 (Toby Ruck, Tane Vatuvei, Junior Foaitua tries, penalty try; Obey Samate 3 pen).  Halftime:  Green Island 21-20.

Dunedin 38 (Ben Paku, Jay Davis 2, Oscar Schmidt Uli 2, Hame Toma tries; Cam Burgess 4 con),

Zingari 15 (A-One Lolofie 2 tries; Shaun Driver pen, con).  Halftime: Dunedin 14-10.

Standings