A rule which allows players to switch clubs from town to country has been both criticised and supported as club rugby in South Otago comes to a climax.
Lawrence beat Clutha in a tight semifinal on Saturday but Clutha coach David Latta has hit out at a rule which allowed the Lawrence club to field players who had played all their rugby in the Dunedin Metropolitan competition this season.
Other players from the Dunedin competition turned out for country teams in South and Central Otago.
Latta said it was not a case of sour grapes but he felt it was unfair players could be called in to play in the semfinals and final, despite having not played for that team all season.
''To me it makes a mockery of the whole competition. You get a semifinal and a final and that is when you should get your best performers for the whole season playing,'' he said.
He questioned what connection some of the players who turned out for Lawrence had with that club.
Latta said the problem never used to occur when the South Otago club competition was aligned with the Dunedin competition but that had changed in the past couple of years.
He said that was the major problem with the competition: that it finished later then Dunedin.
Clutha had brought in two Metropolitan club players last year - Simon Grant and Tyler Bichan - but they had only been introduced as injuries had meant the side was struggling to field a side.
Latta said the club would write a letter about the rule to the southern region council of clubs.
The rule stated players could register for a club 2 weeks before the semifinals and could play for the side in the finals, even if they had never turned out for the club in any previous games this season.
Southern regional council of clubs chairman Mark Frisby said the rule had been around for a long time and had never been changed.
There had been grumblings about it last year but it could only be dropped at the Otago Country annual meeting and no club had put forward a notice to get rid of it at this year's annual meeting.
If taken to the extreme, a club could register 15 All Blacks, ship them in and get them to play in the finals.
Why it was introduced was unclear but it had been around forever, he said.
The two-week stand-down meant players could not shift clubs once they were out of the running.
But with the town competition over, players can be drawn from there.
Lawrence club manager Jock Martin said the club had registered four players from the Kaikorai club: Danny van der Voort, Nathan Hull, Bryce Morgan and George Hendry, although Hendry did not play on Saturday.
The Kaikorai club had a connection with country rugby and players knew each other in the team.
Hull and Morgan started on the bench on Saturday.
He said the club was struggling for numbers and in 12 team sheets he filled out, only four times was he able to name a full bench.
The club wanted to have a full-strength side at finals time to give those players who had turned out all season a chance to be competitive. Those new players also wanted to play as rugby had finished for them in town.
A team such as Lawrence did not have sufficient depth.
He said other clubs - Clutha Valley, Clinton, Toko, and Roxburgh - in the Central Otago competition, had brought in players from town as they lacked depth.
