Pirates Old Boys chalks up second win in row
PIRATESOLD BOYS notched up backtoback Southland premier club rugby victories for the first time since 2016 and in the process introduced another handy addition.
After three straight losses to start the season, PiratesOld Boys knocked over Blues last weekend, before on Saturday setting their sights on Star where they recorded a 3514 victory.
PiratesOld Boys have bit by bit assembled a useful squad this season and just as importantly they are playing with plenty of enthusiasm.
The latest addition is Josh Buchan, who lined up at full back in the win over Star at Surrey Park on Saturday.
The former Otago Boys’ High School pupil was part of the New Zealand secondary schools team in 2015 and last year played for North Otago in the Heartland Championship.
He is now in Southland trying to take the next step in his career.
PiratesOld Boys opened the scoring on Saturday with a Greg Dyer penalty, but it was Star which was making plenty of inroads early in the game with lock Manaaki SelbyRickit to the fore.
Star crossed first when SelbyRickit and hooker Sy Waiti combined in a nice lineout move.
The two teams traded points and Star held a 1413 lead early in the second half when No 8 Brad Whyte crossed from a closerange scrum.
At that point, PiratesOld Boys took over, running in three secondhalf tries in the bonuspoint victory.
Centre Lisala Halaleva scored two of PiratesOld Boys’ four tries and was impressive. He ran good
angles and mixed it up close to the ruck where needed.
Halaeva is another who played his club rugby in Dunedin last season, but this year he has made the move to Southland to try his luck.
Flanker Wade McRae turned in another standout game for PiratesOld Boys which included pinching plenty of ball at the ruck.
Saturday marked the completion of the first round of the premier competition and there have been few questions answered as to just which teams are the contenders or pretenders in this year’s competition.
Four of the six teams won two of their five first roundrobin games to start the season and just two competition points separate those teams.
Marist and Woodlands sit first and second but those two teams both lost on Saturday, highlighting the evenness of this year’s competition.
Blues bounced back from the disappointing loss to PiratesOld Boys to topple the inform Woodlands 2212 in Invercargill.
The EasternNorthern Barbarians showed their gritty attributes in Wyndham on Saturday when they knocked over Marist 2422, which started the game unbeaten.
The six teams will all have shorterthannormal turnarounds when they line up midweek to avoid a clash with the start of the duckshooting season.
Marist and Woodlands will meet in a topofthetable clash on Wednesday night, while the EasternNorthern Barbarians and PiratesOld Boys will clash on Thursday, as will Star and Blues.