Devils lose to Southlanders

The Tasman Red Devils walked away from Invercargill’s Rugby Park empty-handed on Saturday night.

A long trip south ended in frustration for the Marlborough-based side when they were beaten 36-17 by Southland B in their South Island Invitational tournament opener.

Tasman were well in the game at halftime, trailing just 12-7 after midfielder Johnny Ika had scored a 15th minute try for the visitors, who flew south on the morning of the game. However the home side, bolstered by five members of the Southland Stags squad who had played North Harbour on Thursday, added four more tries to the two they had picked up in the first half to take the game away from the disappointing Devils.

Tasman, who had three tries disallowed, were unhappy with the officiating – the referee being a late replacement for the scheduled official.

However they also had themselves to blame for their failure to do the business, team management suggesting they should have scored at least four tries in the first spell, their players losing the ball within striking distance of the Southland line.

Tasman coach Mark Stewart felt his side had ’’played some really good rugby’’ but had not reacted well enough to the standard of officiating, which he described as ‘‘embarrassing’’.

The Devils’ set pieces worked well, and they attacked with accuracy, but the breakdown area became something of a lottery, making it difficult to maintain phase play.

Loose forwards Braden Stewart and Ofa Folau, who both had stand-out games, scored tries for the visitors in the second half but the home side continued to rack up points, keeping the Devils at arm’s length on the scoreboard.

Halfback Ben Finau, Ika, Aisea Halo and fullback Glen Ballam impressed out wide for Tasman, while lock Reyne Volavola, hooker Billy Collins and No 8 Jesse MacDonald stood out in the pack.

With only three teams playing in the SI Invitational championship division, their failure to pick up a bonus point means the Red Devils are now out of contention for promotion to the premiership, with Southland B sitting on six points. The Red Devils play Canterbury Maori in their final game at Lansdowne Park on Saturday.