Shannon count on home turf
Could it be — advantage Shannon? The table-topping Rahui and Waikanae teams are guaranteed home-ground semifinals in the Horowhenua-Kāpiti Ramsbotham Cup competition with one round left to play, by virtue of each winning seven of nine matches.
But their semifinal opponents will be determined by the outcome of tomorrow’s final round, with Shannon, College Old Boys and defending champions Paraparaumu all still in with a chance of making the semifinals.
Paraparaumu and College Old Boys both have to travel away from home tomorrow and need to beat the table-topping teams to make the semifinals, with the former playing Rahui and and the latter v Waikanae.
In comparison, Shannon has a battle of the bridge against their old foes Foxton — always a tough match — and although Foxton have managed only one win so far this season, it would be foolish for Shannon to look too far ahead.
Foxton only just lost to Waikanae 28-21 at the weekend. The week before they went down only 21-17 to COB. The week before that, they were competitive against Rahui, and before that gave Paraparaumu a fright before eventually losing 36-26.
The last time the two teams met, at Shannon Domain in late May, the score was 10-8 to Shannon, the only difference an Arana Murphy conversion.
Draw, July 9: Ramsbotham Cup (2.45pm): Waikanae v COB, Waikanae Park. Rahui v Paraparaumu, Ō taki Domain. Foxton v Shannon, Easton Park.
Bill Muir Cup (1 pm ): F ox tonv Athletic, East on Park. W and er ersv Paraparaumu, Levin Domain.
Scoreboard, July 2: Ramsbotham Cup: Paraparaumu 30 (C Voullaire 2, D Fa la niko,DThomps on tries, D McNamara 1 con, 2 pen, Thompson 1 con)vCOB7(GL eva vetry,S Middleton con).
Waikanae 28 (S Fotu, I Ioka, K Koto, C Te Arilitri es, SOs mo nd 3 con, J Hinds 1 con) v Foxton 21 (M Harvey, K Hill, C Pa kitries,TTane3c on ).
Rahui 24 (A Roach, J Winterburn, penalty try, J Tatu-Robertsson 1 con, 2 pen) v Shannon 14 (S Pape, I RauhihiVonomatairatu tries, A Murphy 2 cons).
Bill Muir Cup: Paraparaumu 16 (J Thompson try, 1 con, 1 pen, B Murland 2 pen) COB 13 (A Pepa try, B EvanKaripa 1 con, 2 pen).
Athletic 25 (M Easton, L Anderson, J Sione tries, CS a lu 2 cons ,2 pen) Wanderers 11 (G Millard try, M Masoe 2 pen).
Foxton bye