The quarterfinals produced the biggest upset since Buster Douglas beat Mike Tyson in Tokyo 1990. So Taieri, Kaikorai and Dunedin (the top three seeds) were all beaten, meaning Kaikorai and Dunedin drop out and Taieri stays in as highest-placed loser.
Taieri came out too confident and Southern, which had been written off by some (unbelievable!), muscled up and won by two in an enthralling encounter.
Kaikorai (Super Club no more!) self-destructed and was well beaten by a very understrength Varsity side which skinned it out wide to turn the High Veldt on its head.
Harbour came to the Sandpit and turned the Sharks into Guppies. It still took a 54m penalty at the death by Logan Allen to get it done but it is through to the major semi and a date with arch-enemy Taieri.
The semis
So Varsity and Southern square off at Logan Park at 2.15pm. Varsity gets back Haugh, Withy and Bell from Otago and will go in as favourite over the Magpies. As long as the side competes up front, it has the backline to get it done. But with my major crash-and-burn last week, am I putting the kiss of death on the Bookworms?
Why do the Taieri and Harbour clubs hate each other — players and fans alike?
It probably stems back to seven years ago when down at Watson the game was like the battle of the Somme. A spiteful encounter, to say the least. The Eels will be hurting and they get Fischli and Whaanga back from Otago and they have the cattle to win this.
Harbour has Morris and Elton out and first-five Sopoaga doubtful so they are at long odds.
Some funny bits
The Bookworms were that short on the weekend that Dale Jarden turned out for them. Dale, so they say, is 38 but I’ve got him in his 40s at least! He put in a great spell and lasted 50 minutes and added some real weight to the pack.
I predicted Super Club, rather tongue in cheek, would win all grades this year, especially with all four Otago coaches on the payroll. Well, it is Super Club no longer as it made the semis in junior colts only this year! The flies picking at the carcass were the only ones making noise at the High Veldt last weekend!
Cabbage Rutledge could be turning out for the Stags this weekend at a genuine 42 years old —– great work.
Other camps
In prem IIs, Green Island takes on old nemesis Taieri in one semi and Dunedin plays Varsity in the other. We are looking at a Green Island v Dunedin final.
In seniors, unbeaten Harbour takes on Strath Taieri and Kaikorai plays Southern. Too close to call. I did find out why Strath Taieri has fallen apart. All the farmers are doing just that — farming! They’ll be back this weekend, however.
In Prem colts, Varsity plays Taieri and Southern meets Dunedin. It should be a Varsity v Southern final, all things being equal. In junior colts, Kaikorai plays Southern and the two Dunedin teams square off (how badly managed is that?). Kaikorai meets Dunedin in that final — that was tough to work out!
Interesting
Three boys play their 50th game in the prem semis this week. Kilipati Lea from Varsity, Solomon Pole from Harbour and Marc Rooney from Taieri play their 50th games. Well done, lads.
Solomon will be well over 100 games as, from memory, he would have played 60-odd for Pirates.The ODT will not only provide scoring from both semis but will livestream both games. I’ll be commentating on Harbour v Taieri so look us up on odt.co.nz/sport. The ODT Cup schools game is playing in an empty greenhouse tomorrow — now that is weird!
This weekend
So I have been beaten by the locks after a mare by me and a Nostradamus performance from Jermayne Maika from the Magpies — the first defeat for yours truly in this format. Crushing!
Now Speight’s and the Alehouse need to cough up a shout for all the locks! Lads, I’ll be in touch. Up against Bilbo from Speight’s this weekend and I’ve resigned myself to losing as he’s taken my picks — the warthog!
But the purist in me would love to call a Southern v Harbour final so both those teams (12-).
Late mail
Look out for the dreaded report card and the yearly form XV next week.