Southern tastes defeat

It’s back to the drawing board for Southern United after the rugby club fell to its first loss of 2014.

Surf found themselves on the receiving end of a heavy loss as they were defeated 48- 21 by competition frontrunners United Matamata Sports.

The hosts were untroubled in the opening 40 minutes as they showed their class racing out to a 20-point head start.

Led by former Chiefs forward Alex Bradley, UMS made plenty of inroads in the Southern defence with the forwards laying the foundation for the backs to capitalise.

Despite facing a 27-0 deficit at halftime, Southern refused to give in and battled away with second five- eighth Sonny Goodnight diving in for their first points after some great work by the forward pack in the leadup.

Southern’s player of the game, James Sutherland added to his try- scoring tally bagging a brace of tries.

Surf’s B team fell to a similar result in a hardfought contest, eventually succumbing to their opponents 26-21.

Matamata had the early advantage with two quick tries but Surf fought back with a well worked try to wing Patrick Leahy to only trail 14-13 at the break.

Southern had a prime chance to steal victory in the final moments but UMS held on for the deserved result to cement their place at the top of the table.