The King’s tighthead reigned supreme in the traditional battle with Otago Boys’ at Littlebourne on Saturday.
The burly prop dominated his opponents and created the platform for King’s to build a 31-17 win in the Southern Schools Rugby Championship game.
The fierce local rivalry was best demonstrated by some tough defence in the opening 10 minutes.
But Otago Boys’ forced a couple of turnovers to get into a position to strike first, and lock Tom Wilson burst free from a ruck to score under the posts.
King’s missed a penalty to close the gap but continued to press.
Hunter made some strong carries and blindside Justin Talalima-Wineti got close to the chalk with a powerful charge.
Otago Boys’ winger Te-Ava-A-Kuta Nicholas picked up a yellow card for getting himself offside, and King’s finally breached the defence.
Hooker Kavahn Saville-Tonih drove over and Lafa Tofiga nailed the sideline conversion to level the score.
Otago Boys’ responded immediately when openside Charlie Ottrey ran through a gap off the back of a lineout and sprinted 30m to the line.
He had to step around a cover defender to get there. It was quite something.
Otago Boys’ spent the remainder of the half hard on defence and eventually loosehead prop Semisi Fakataha dived over just before the break.
There had been a long build-up and the home team had defended admirably.
The conversion missed, so Otago Boys’ nursed a 14-12 lead at the break.
Otago Boys’ extended their lead with a penalty early in the second half but King’s kept chipping away.
They had the dominant scrum and won another scrum penalty. They kicked for touch and mauled their way over.
Saville-Tonih flopped over for his second and the conversion helped the visitors take a 19-17 lead.
Hunter was putting so much pressure on his opposite in the scrum. Mark him down as a prop with a very bright future.
He helped shunt the Otago Boys’ pack back and that created the opportunity for King’s to score again.
Replacement Tautai Taiala put in a grubber and centre Henry Smale collected it and scored.
Talalima-Wineti sealed the win with a try out wide following some nice work in the lead-up.
In the other division 1 games, Southland Boys’ 2nds beat St Kevin’s 27-14 in Oamaru, and Southland Boys’ dispatched John McGlashan 61-0 in Invercargill.
Dunstan consolidated their lead at the top of the second division standings with a 32-5 win over Wakatipu in Alexandra, Waitaki Boys’ cruised to a 64-14 win over Otago Boys’ 2nds in Oamaru, and South Otago beat Mt Aspiring 17-0 in Wānaka.
Central Southland remained unbeaten in division 3. They beat John McGlashan 2nds 36-0 in Mataura. Māruawai-Menzies edged Cromwell 34-31 at home and King’s 2nds secured a 19-15 win over a much-improved Taieri side.
