No-one loses. No-one wins either.
And that does not seem fair considering how much effort both teams put in at Miller Park on Saturday afternoon.
Green Island trailed 20-10 with about 10 minutes remaining. It looked like its unbeaten season was about to be derailed.
But exciting winger Michael Manson grabbed hold of an intercept — just.
He had to pirouette and control the ball on his finger tips before properly hauling it in. When he did have a firm grasp, he set off on a 60m run.
He had too much gas for the cover and ran around under the posts.
In the final minute gun goal-kicker Isaak Te Hiwi drilled a penalty to clinch a draw.
The game was an arm wrestle. Green Island showed more flair out wide but Harbour had a big edge at scrum time.
Massive prop Saula Ma’u was the main contributor in that department.
Hawks first five-eighth Toka Sopoaga scored a crucial second-half try thanks to the effort of the heavies in a scrum about 7m out.
The visitors also took a 13-3 lead into the halftime break after catching the home side napping twice.
Willie Tufui scored his third try in three games when Green Island failed to field a kick through. He got the inside pass and bashed his way to the line from 20m out.
Moments later dangerous winger Viliami Fine took a quick tap and scampered for the corner. Fullback Mone Samate was rewarded for his support with a try in the corner.
Southern 35 Taieri 28
The defending champions have been vanquished again.
This time Taieri knows exactly where to point the finger.
The Eels produced a rubbish opening 40 minutes against a hungry Southern side at Bathgate Park.
Taieri played some of its worst football in three years and went into the break trailing 18-7.
The deficit should have been larger but halfback Bob Martin provided a nippy effort to score from broken play in the opening 10 minutes.
Southern dominated up front. The large figure of Highlanders lock Pari Pari Parkinson stood out, and No8 Rewi Pomare proved a handful as well.
Right-winger Timoci Tavatavanawai was a constant threat and the best player on the park, while fullback Obey Samate enhanced his reputation with another classy display at the back.
Jack Leslie was impressive at first five-eighth as well.
Taieri rallied in the second spell. It fought back to trail 30-28 with five minutes remaining.
But Southern scored with four minutes remaining to clinch its first win this season.
Last weekend Taieri came unstuck against a determined Green Island side. That game could have gone either way.
But Southern earned its victory on Saturday.
The upside for Taieri was Martin bagged a second try and looks to have returned to form after a long injury battle.
University 40 Zingari-Richmond 17
University was always expected to win at Montecillo — and it did — but the home side put up a spirited fight.
The students beat Zingari-Richmond 40-17 in an error-riddled affair.
Despite being camped deep inside University territory for the majority of the first half, committed defence from the visiting team kept Zingari-Richmond scoreless.
The opening minutes of the match involved a scrum with a number of resets and the ref pulling the front rows aside for a chat.
The subsequent resets were only terminated with a penalty to Zingari-Richmond, which opted for a quick tap only to turn the ball over, setting the scene for the match.
A brilliant 60m run up the left touch from Tylar Diack, in the 15th minute, breathed some life into what was evolving into an otherwise dour mistake-fuelled encounter.
Diack’s run was being halted close to the line when he drew in the last line of defence and offloaded to first five-eighth Sam Clarke to score the first of his two tries. Clarke’s brace also contributing to his five conversions for a 20-point bag.
As each team went to the benches in the second spell a little more structure came into the game with both sides scoring three tries.
University was well served up front by hooker Ricky Jackson and locks Josh Hill and Jakob Harrex, with Giovanni Leituala and Jermaine Pepe always a threat in its backline. The best for Zingari-Richmond were loose forwards Simon Pupuali’i and Ciaran Jansen, lock Keegan Anderson and midfielder Willie Time.
Dunedin 30 Alhambra-Union 12
Dunedin started the game with will and purpose and strung the phases together but after 10 minutes only had a penalty to show for it. It then coughed up possession and winger Peleci Malanicagi had too much pace and raced away. That was as good as it would get for the home team as the Sharks dominated the rest of the game.
By halftime, Dunedin had three tries on the board as its speedy phase play was too much for AU.
Hooker Sam Rainger, flanker Hame Toma and winger Oscar Schmidt-Uili all cashed in.
Only committed AU defence kept the score to 20-5 at the break. Early in the second spell Dunedin missed touch from a penalty and AU went 90m in its best passage of the game and halfback Noah Hotham crashed over to cut the lead to eight points.
But Dunedin was not to be denied and hooker Rainger went over again from a lineout drive.
Fullback Josh Moorby caught the defence napping from a tap penalty to score a dubious try in the corner and the game was done.
The Dunedin pack totally dominated at times. Rainger was into everything and locks Jack Regan and Fabian Holland ruled supreme in the lineouts. Their carries were bruising and at times breathtaking. That gave openside Oliver Griffin the space to dominate in the loose.
Midfielders Keenan Christian-Goss and Gene Te Amo were a tower of strength in the backline and kept their vaunted opposites well in check.
AU should be proud of its defensive work which kept the score down and halfback Hotham and No8 Delaney Mckenzie were far and away its best.
- ODT rugby writers
