The Otago Schools Rugby Championship keeps dishing up some interesting results.
Otago Boys’ suffered its third straight defeat in the competition with a 45-19 loss to John McGlashan on Saturday.
King’s emerged as a strong contender with a good win over Southland Boys’.
But arguably the biggest result took place midweek.
Taieri College shocked South Otago 21-7 at Outram on Wednesday night.
Taieri College has been playing under the Combined Co-eds banner for the past three seasons but decided to go it alone this year.
The victory was the school’s first in the competition since 2018.
Coach Ryan Rosevear was thrilled for his side.
"We just really took our chances well and probably dominated in all areas of the game," Rosevear said.
Taieri stretched its 7-0 lead at halftime to 14-0 with a try to lock Caleb Lilley early in the second spell.
South Otago replied with a try to fullback Jimmy Flannery. But Taieri closed out the game with another converted try.
No8 and captain Lachlan Nicholl made some telling charges in a standout performance.
First five Billy Hunter grew in confidence and his running game flourished, and second five Levi Devlin was tough to stop and made some cracking tackles.
John McGlashan is unbeaten this season so perhaps its 45-19 win should not come as a surprise.
But the size of the win will no doubt have dented the confidence of Otago Boys’, which is more used to delivering defeats than dwelling on them.
Johnnies ran in seven tries in the win. Last month, they won the fixture 29-7, so they have Otago Boys’ measure this season.
Their biggest threat might come from King’s. It 33-18 victory over Southland Boys’ was reasonably convincing.
Lock Oram Gutsell produced a quality performance and got himself on the scoresheet with a try.
Fullback Sam Nemec-Vial scored late in the first half and was always threatening, while first five Dylan Pledger directed play nicely and his tactical kicking was excellent.
Waitaki Boys’ edged Dunstan 26-22 in Oamaru in the other division 1 game.
Wakatipu was too strong for Otago Boys’ 2nds, winning 50-7 in Queenstown, while Mt Aspiring edged St Kevin’s 26-17 in Oamaru.
