Round seven of the Southern Region rugby competition is shaping up to be the most important week yet with semifinals just around the corner.
Competition leader Clutha Valley hosts Lawrence with three trophies at stake.
Valley will be favourites heading into the fixture after another strong win at the weekend. Lawrence did get its first win of the season last weekend at the expense of Clinton and will head in with confidence, but Valley should be too strong at home.
Toko is still the talk of the town after its impressive run of form continued last weekend with a hard-fought win at Kaitangata.
The Milton men have moved level on points with Crescent and Clutha.
Toko hosts Clutha this weekend. Clutha is coming off a bye and will be fresh and ready for action, but Toko is riding a wave of confidence and will be very hard to beat in front of a packed crowd.
Crescent has lost momentum over the past two weeks with consecutive losses to Clutha Valley and Toko.
It is at home this weekend to take on Heriot, which is also suffering a dip in form.
Heriot was beaten at home last weekend by West Taieri and is sitting in a perilous position, four points adrift of the top four.
A loss here for Heriot could see it struggle to make the semifinals, while Crescent will not want to lose a third match on the trot and will be a handful to beat at home.
The rejuvenated West Taieri side rounds off the weekend with a home match against Clinton, which has yet to register a win this season.
West Taieri will be a firm favourite at home as its desperation to stay in touch with the leaders will be as strong as ever.
- Francis Parker
