A roundup of Dunedin premier grade club rugby games played over the weekend.
Taieri 24
Kaikorai 24
Let’s call that a win, a draw and a loss.
Taieri and Kaikorai had a 24-24 draw in the final of the Speight’s Jug (first round trophy) on Saturday.
The teams will share the trophy, which is a bit awkward. But it is still a win of sorts for both teams.
The loss? Well, all Otago fans will feel that.
First five Cameron Millar went down injured five minutes into the second half.
He had to be assisted from the field and spent the rest of the fixture with his right ankle wrapped in a support.
On balance, a draw was a fitting result for a clash doubling as a regular round-robin game.
Kaikorai spent the early exchanges pinned in its own half, but nabbed a try against the run of play.
Caleb Leef fumbled a high ball; it got toed through and lock Oscar Graham won the try-line scramble.
The Eels replied with tries to wing Joe Cockburn and hard-working loose forward Brodie Hume to lead 14-10 at the break.
With 20 minutes remaining, Kaikorai took regained the lead when the intercept king Jordan McEntee poached a pass and scampered 60m to score.
But there was one twist left. Ben Miller drilled a penalty — his fourth of the game — from in front to level the score with less than five minutes remaining. That is how it stayed.
— Adrian Seconi
Green Island 24
Southern 17
Green Island fullback Finn Hurley scored in the opening minute to help sink Southern 24-17 at Miller Park.
Hurley’s early touch was a bad sign for the defending champion Magpies. He has the habit of weaving loose threads into golden braids.
He blew down the touchline and beat several defenders on his way to the line.
As one seasoned observer noted, he was the difference between the two teams. Hurley slotted three conversions and a penalty to go with that try.
Oliver Haig and Heath MacEwan grabbed first-half tries as well, and Green Island led 24-7 at the break.
Southern was not out of the fixture. It had a strong wind at its back in the second spell and scored a couple of tries to narrow the gap.
But it was a game of missed opportunities for the Magpies. They opted against kicking for goal in the opening half and that proved costly.
Veteran No 8 Mika Mafi was a late scratching with a hamstring complaint. Hooker Jake McEwan strained his hamstring during the game as well. That took some grunt out of the pack.
Green Island’s loose forward trio of Haig, Jesse Va’afusuaga and Delaney McKenzie were able to call most of the shots in the opening half.
However, Southern blindside Harry Taylor and fellow loosie Konrad Toleafoa had pretty decent shifts. But the Magpies certainly missed the old bull, Mafi.
Southern had opportunities to snatch the win — it was held up over the line a couple of times.
But there was too much individual play and not enough working together from Southern’s persecutive. There was also a lot of dropped ball.
— Adrian Seconi
University 50
Zingari-Richmond 19
Otago hooker Ricky Jackson came on as an injury replacement and inspired University to a five-try scoring blitz in the final quarter to wrap up a 50-19 victory over Zingari-Richmond at Montecillo.
Jackson ran on at the start of the second half and had an immediate impact with his speed to the ball and dominance at the breakdown.
A 50m burst from broken play near his own line almost brought about a classic end-to-end try. His presence gave University a great deal of mobility around the field.
The Bookies led 19-0 at the break, but the game quickly turned on its head when the home side scored two tries in quick through its forwards.
This kick-started a University resurgence and a change to its game plan as it began to play with possession and pace.
The forwards did the grunt work, but all five final-quarter tries came through speed and space in the backline. The try to Aaron McMurray, when he darted down the right wing to score in the corner, was typical of the space being created to hand the backline freedom to cut loose.
Apart from Jackson, University was well-served up front by locks Oliver Gardiner and Mitchell Tinnock and loose forwards Will Riley and Lous Magalogo.
For Zingari-Richmond, props Israel Otunuku and Alex Nettleton were solid in the set piece and dangerous in broken play, while midfielders Keenan Masina and Tama Apineru were tireless on defence.
— Wayne Parsons
Dunedin 55
Harbour 10
Dunedin put on its best performance of the season to run in nine tries against a bewildered Harbour at Kettle Park.
The Sharks had their first try inside a minute as outstanding fullback Kyan Rangitutia beat five players and put blindside Konrad Lotu L’iga over close to the posts.
Harbour struck back with midfielder Will Tafui going over, but that was to be its lot apart from a penalty.
Dunedin piled on five more tries in the first half. The two most memorable were a 55m intercept to prop Rohan Wingham, who showed plenty of pace, and one to first five Ben Paku, who made a one-handed scoop inside his own half and beat multiple tackles in a 50m-plus jaunt to the line.
Things certainly cooled in the second spell, but replacement prop Hunter Fahey swatted tacklers aside on a 20m run to the line.
Dunedin wing Oscar Schmidt-Uili scored his obligatory long-range special, a 90m dash to the line, beating three tacklers with a combination of power and pace.
The Dunedin forwards dominated the lineout, were all over the loose ball and carried powerfully to set up the games for their fleet-footed backs. Lock James Bolton was the stand-out as he dominated the lineouts and ate up the metres on the carry, but the rest of the pack were not far behind.
All the backs had their moments, too, but Paku controlled the game and his breaks were electric. Midfielders Joe Cooke and Josh Dent were into everything and Rangitutia, just 18, was all calmness, pace and power at the back.
Harbour competed well at scrum time, but fell off too many tackles and coughed up too much possession. Lock Solomon Pole was the Hawks’ best up front, and versatile back Nathan Hastie did his best to stem the blue tide.
— Paul Dwyer
Round 11
The scores
Kaikorai 24 (Oscar Graham, Jordan McEntee tries; Ben Miller con, 4 pen).
Taieri 24 (Brodie Hume 2, Joe Cockburn tries; Matt Whaanga drop goal, Cam Millar 2 con, Caleb Leef con).
Halftime: Taieri 17-12.
Green Island 24 (Finn Hurley, Heath MacEwan, Oliver Haig tries; Finn Hurley 3 con, pen).
Southern 17 (Sione Tonga Paea Nau, Ben McCarthy, Bradley Horne tries; Ben McCarthy con).
Halftime: Green Island 24-7.
University 50 (Jeremiah Asi 2, Oliver Gardiner, Jermaine Pepe, Blake Forward, Aaron McMurray, Brad Campbell, Jacob Waikari-Jones tries; Blake Forward 5 con).
Zingari-Richmond 19 (Isileli Otunuku 2, Alex Nettleton tries; Tyree Mania 2 con).
Halftime: University 19-0.
Dunedin 55 (Kyan Rangitutia 2, Rohan Wingham, James Bolton, Jay Davis, Benjamin Paku, Harry Press, Hunter Fahey, Oscar Schmidt-Uili tries; Paku 3 con, Jake Christian-Goss 2 con),
Harbour 10 (Will Tufui try; Obey Samate con, pen).
Halftime: Dunedin 36-10.
Standings
| P | W | D | L | F | A | B | Pts | |
| Kaikorai | 10 | 8 | 1 | 1 | 372 | 135 | 8 | 47 |
| Dunedin | 10 | 8 | 0 | 2 | 400 | 199 | 8 | 39 |
| Taieri | 10 | 8 | 1 | 1 | 289 | 110 | 5 | 39 |
| Southern | 10 | 6 | 0 | 4 | 328 | 198 | 8 | 37 |
| Green Is | 10 | 5 | 0 | 5 | 214 | 243 | 4 | 24 |
| Harbour | 9 | 3 | 0 | 6 | 169 | 223 | 7 | 22 |
| University | 11 | 4 | 0 | 7 | 297 | 321 | 5 | 21 |
| Zingari-Ri | 9 | 1 | 0 | 8 | 151 | 406 | 3 | 9 |
| AU | 9 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 106 | 491 | 3 | 4 |
Points earned for the round 1 bye: Kaikorai 5, Southern 4, Harbour 3, ZR 2, AU 1.
