University 35
Slippery Southern first five Jack Leslie clinched a tense 36-35 win over University with a clutch conversion from out wide in the last act of the game.
He also bagged a brace of tries in a 21-point haul to help his side wrestle the Cavanagh Memorial trophy away from the students at Bathgate Park on Saturday.
Both teams will be hitting the tackle bags this week, but a mixed defensive effort made for an exciting game.
University scored late in the half through Highlander Sean Withy to take a 17-15 lead into the break.
The hard-running No 8 had a strong game as did fellow Highlander Josh Timu. He played at centre and made several elusive runs, including the break that led to Withy’s five-pointer.
University dominated early in the second spell and scored through Ivan Hill and Thomas Rance.
It led 27-15 but Leslie got his side back into the game.
He had to backpedal to collect the ball, but spun back around and burst through a gap. It was awfully similar to his first-half effort. The line just opened up.
But Robert Sporke scored during injury time to stretch the lead to 35-29.
There was one twist left. Southern fullback Mackenzie Haugh slid past a defender to score out wide leaving Leslie to do the rest.
Green Island 23
Harbour 22
Green Island rookie Finn Hurley set up the game-winning try with a class touch to put fullback Nelson Yorston into the corner.
Hurley, who played first five for Otago Boys’ last season, was stationed out on the right wing and had a cracking debut for the club.
He slotted three penalties to help his side go into the break up 9-8 against Harbour at home at Miller Park.
But the Hawks rallied. Winger Mone Samate scored down the blind side from a lineout. He had just a bit too much space and finished nicely.
Then hooker Austin Atiga added to his first-half effort with another five-pointer. His side led 22-9 and would have felt very comfortable heading into the final quarter of the game.
But Green Island was dominating the lineout through veteran lock Josh Clark, and centre Jake Te Hiwi was menacing in possession.
He scored in the 58th minute to help the Grizzlies cut the deficit.
Then Hurley spotted his chance. He drew the last defender and got the offload away in contact to Yorston to score.
Hurley nailed the sideline conversion to give his side the lead with eight minutes to play.
He is not a big bloke but he makes good decisions, he kicks well and he helped get his side off to a fine start to the season.
For Harbour, lock Taylor Dale and loosies Phoenix Kairimu and Oliver Parkinson gave a good account of themselves.
But Green Island enjoyed more territory and was more threatening on attack.
Taieri 37
Kaikorai 21
Taieri fed off Kaikorai errors to start the defence of its title in positive fashion at Peter Johnstone Park.
The intensity both teams brought to the encounter in the first half produced a game with plenty of feeling, and each team lost a player to the sin bin in the opening spell.
As the match settled, Taieri took advantage of a high error rate from Kaikorai, along with the Demons’ inability to secure lineout ball.
Despite its issues, Kaikorai headed into the break 18-14 up, on the back of a solid defensive forward effort and a sensational intercept from winger Liam Coombes-Fabling, which resulted in an 80m sprint for the try.
But any thoughts of Kaikorai expanding on this lead were extinguished after the Taieri forwards found their mojo, spending the final 12 minutes of the first half camped on Kaikorai’s 5m line, eventually scoring through hooker Brady Robertson.
A try to winger Mitch Scott early in the second half handed Taieri the lead and fuelled momentum as Kaikorai’s intensity began to wane.
Its high error rate handed Cam Millar the kicking tee for two long range penalty goals to extend the lead, and prop Cam Allen-McNeill added to Taieri’s dominance with two late tries.
Dunedin 41
Zingari-Richmond 14
As a game, it never reached any great heights, but the Dunedin pack was effective at Montecillo and dominated the set pieces, especially at scrum time.
The Sharks had three tries and were 20 points up after 35 minutes with the game safely in the bag.
Stand-in first five Tomas Hannam-Carter scored the first of his two tries from 80m out after fullback Tommy Clout ran it back and Carter scooted 60m to finish.
Winger Oscar Schmidt-Uili showed his outside step and extreme pace to score the third.
Just before halftime, Zingari finally opened its account when halfback Jin Ho Mun made a break and put centre Tama Apineru away to close the gap slightly.
Normal service resumed in the second spell with Dunedin No 8 Edward Whyte showing speed and power to crash over for the first two tries of the spell.
Replacement centre Tony Solomona showed pace and a devastating step to put Dunedin over 40 with five minutes to play, while Zingari winger Willie Time scored a late converted try to put some respectability into the score.
For Dunedin, Kees Scott, Harry Press and Rohan Wingham dominated up front and were powerful on the carry and the clean-out.
Young No 8 Whyte was good at lineout time and a menace round the field with his power. Energiser bunny Devon Oliver-Bell at halfback led his team around the park with aplomb, and Hannam-Carter (till he succumbed to injury) and midfielder Gene Te Amo were brutally efficient.
For Zingari, No 8 Tofatuimoana Solia was powerful on the carry and halfback Mun was the best of the backs.
Zingari just made too many handling errors to be competitive on the scoreboard and will need to rectify that if it wants to win games.
- ODT rugby writers
