West Taieri has locked away the Speight’s Jug for the season and sealed a home semifinal with a 22-17 win over Clutha in the game of the round at the Balclutha Showgrounds.
West Taieri controlled the opening phases and were rewarded with opening points through a penalty to Callum Smeaton.
Clutha scored the first try to perhaps the biggest ovation the showgrounds has ever seen. Prop Joe Laban, in his 150th match, intercepted a pass deep inside his own territory and ran upwards of 60m to score, much to the delight of the crowd.
West Taieri, in their usual form, hit back straight away to narrow the gap.
Both sides scored again before the break, with the visitors holding a slim 16-14 lead at halftime.
The second half was a battle of attrition with neither side managing to score a try thanks to some key errors and tenacious defence.
Clutha came close with a ball dropped over the try line with 10 minutes remaining.
Clutha kicked a penalty to take a slim lead before West Taieri hot-shot Callum Smeaton kicked two late penalties to give his side the win.
Clutha Valley has locked in a semifinal spot with a 66-10 thrashing of Clinton in Clinton on Thursday.
Valley flew out of the blocks and battered Clinton into submission in the opening 20 minutes with four unanswered tries.
Clinton fought back and scored one of the tries of the match through a special individual effort by first five Ryan Soper. The visitors were far too strong in the contact and took a 40-10 lead into halftime.
Valley opened the scoring in the second half as halfback Jared Edwards nabbed a hat-trick.
Valley ran in three more tries to win comfortably and lock away the Brian Steel Memorial.
Crescent carried on their superb form with a convincing 60-14 win over Toko at Kaitangata.
Crescent scored nine tries to the visitor’s two as they locked away the McIntosh Cup and Eddie Scott Memorial for the year.
Crescent’s forward set a fantastic platform with props Setu Enoka and Oceania Ioane again showing their class. Once Crescent got front-foot ball, their wingers found space out wide and scored two tries each. Toko were outmuscled but never took a backward step.
Their intent on attack late forced Crescent to give away penalties and two players were sin-binned.
Toko scored the final try in a small consolation.
Lawrence beat Owaka 35-28 in a physical battle at Simpson Park in Lawrence.
Both sides were happy to throw the ball wide and attack with pace on the counter.
Lawrence made the most of their visits to Owaka’s red zone, whereas the visitors gave away penalties on attack in key areas of the field. Lawrence were better over the ball and forced numerous turnovers.
— Francis Parker
