Lincoln, Sydenham remain pacesetters
Canterbury Metro rugby pacesetters Sydenham and Lincoln University will square off this Saturday with the winner likely to be crowned first round Cup champions.
Both sides had comfortable wins on Saturday with Lincoln pummelling Belfast 43-0 and Sydenham beating Marist Albion 60-12 – so their clash at Hospital Corner will be one to watch over the long weekend.
Lincoln and Sydenham have both had a loss over nine rounds to Christchurch and Linwood respectively, but Sydenham hold the lead courtesy of two bonus points.
Sydenham scored 10 tries in its win over Marist Albion with a superb display of ball movement, hard running and support play.
Meanwhile, counterparts Lincoln grabbed seven tries in an easy win over Belfast with relentless pressure from the visiting side, who dominated possession and territory, converting both into points when chances fell.
Despite the wet grounds, Lincoln University were positive from the outset and too strong up front, which has been a theme of their season.
Third placed Christchurch found itself 10 points down against University after 25 minutes, but the home side scored 20 unanswered points in the second half.
Christchurch coach Simon Kneebone said his side were again slow to start and very messy in the first half.
That was something they will look to work on before entering the second half of the competition.
‘‘We played some really silly rugby in that first half, but after a fairly big rark up at halftime we came right.’’
Kneebone said his side had been struggling with a few injuries and hoped they would all be back on the field in time for the the top six playoff round.
‘‘We are up and down. Our handling and execution wasn’t flash.’’
‘‘It’s good to be solidly in the top six. We are pretty happy with that.’’
Christchurch has been missing the leadership of standout player Inga Finau, selected for the Barbarians squad to face the British and Irish Lions on Saturday in Whangarei.
University were on the receiving end of a 20-6 penalty count and played 20 minutes of the second half with 14 men after receiving two yellow cards.
Caleb Aperahama was sinbinned in the 50th minute, although it was down to constant infringing by his team on their own goal-line.
Crusaders wing Jone Macilai was then dealt the same fate in the 70th for a head high tackle.
Despite Christchurch dominating territory in the first half they were unable to cross the University line mainly due to a lack of ball-handling skills. New Brighton, Burnside and Sumner were other round nine victors.