Heriot has started the Southern Region Rugby season off on the right note with a 24-18 win over reigning champion Clutha Valley at Heriot.
Valley had the wind at its back in the first half and started in promising fashion, with two early tries to winger Logan Wilson and hooker Jack Pringle.
The 12-0 lead sustained the travelling Valley side for the majority of the first half, as the game was played between 22m lines.
Every time Heriot would make inroads into the Valley half, they would either make a mistake, or Valley would steal the ball from a weakly defended breakdown before hoofing it back down field.
An opportunistic try to Heriot loose forward Lachlan Dudin towards the end of the first half ensured Heriot would feature on the scoreboard.
The home side pressured the try line for the remainder of the half, but some hardened Valley defence kept them at bay.
Valley went into halftime 13-7 ahead. The travelling Valley side would also open the scoring in the second half, through No8 Damian Wilson to give them an 18-7 lead.
This try seemed to spur Heriot into action and for the middle stages of the second half, they attacked relentlessly.
It was only their handling errors and poor decision-making that allowed Valley to clear their lines.
When Heriot managed to hold on to the ball for long periods, they made metres at will.
A second-half brace to midfielder Clayton Buchanan put Heriot ahead on the scoreboard, and a late Andrew Metherell try sealed the deal on the stroke of fulltime.
For the home side Buchanan had a fantastic match. His combination with first five Logan Cornish was top drawer. Try scorer Dudin was the pick of the forwards. Valley was served well by open side Liam Turnbull who got through a power of work.
Crescent has retained the Miners Cup with a strong 39-7 win over Lawrence in Lawrence.
Crescent controlled proceedings for the majority of the match but could not run away with the score until the final 20 minutes.
A combative first half saw the travelling Crescent side score a quick two tries to none and head into the break 12-0 ahead.
Crescent’s set piece was strong and laid a solid platform.
Crescent scored five second half tries, as the score blew out towards the end.
Lock Logan Mackie helped himself to two tries for Crescent. Prop Sam Wyber and fullback Sam Cross were Lawrence’s best.
Clutha have held on to beat West Taieri 40-34 in an open game of rugby in Outram. Clutha controlled the first half as it took West Taieri 40 minutes to find its feet in the match.
Clutha held a strong 28-10 lead at halftime before West Taieri came back into the match with three quick tries to tighten the score line to 33-27.
A late intercept try to Clutha midfielder Sylvester Reeves sealed the deal for the Steamers who pick up their first win over West Taieri in three years.
- Francis Parker
