Mossburn lead pack in div two

was for them, he said.

From the outset Marist suffocated the highly regarded Star attack which had run wild in the weeks leading up to Saturday’s final. Blank looks flashed over their faces when Star fired a few early shots on attack and Marist didn’t budge.

And while their defence batted away any attempts by Star to make inroads, the boot of Scott Eade as expected proved vital.

Eade kicked six from seven in an important goal kicking display, but he also positioned Marist well on the field through his general kicking.

As good as a lineup Star possessed, they didn’t have an Eade in their stocks.

Junior Ngulafe was named at fullback and wore the No 15 jersey, but he spent most of the game at first five-eighth for Star.

It’s a role he tried his best to master but the reality is his biggest threat is as a fullback.

Star had the first opportunity to open the scoring three minutes in through a Pedro Benazilla penalty but he pushed it wide.

Eade followed up with two penalties of his own, the first in the 10th minute, and then another in the 15th minute to make it 6-0.

At that point Star wouldn’t have been too fazed.

However when Star had a two on one over lap at about the half way mark, and Marist wing Keanu Kahukura stuck his hand out and latched onto an intercept, disaster struck.

Kahukura set off and fed Eade on the outside who scooted in to score in the corner.

Eade then landed the conversion from the sideline as Marist pushed out to a 13-0 halftime lead.

Eade extended it to 16-0 just minutes into the second half before Benazilla finally registered Star’s first points with a penalty in the 48th minute.

But when flanker Tangaroa Walker showed good strength to score and make it 23-3, the Marist supporters really started to get vocal.

The introduction of veterans Mark McHugh and Jeremy Bekhuis with about 20 minutes to play, seemed to spark Star.

Star scored two tries to send some nerves into the Marist camp at 23-15 with 10 min to play, but there was no miracle come back from Star.

They had left themselves too much ground to make up, and fittingly it was Eade who had the last say kicking a penalty with four minutes to play to lock away a 26-15 win.

The players you would expect to front for Marist did on Saturday.

Stags prop Shaun Stodart had a strong game which included a couple of key turn overs in the first half, while Phil Halder’s workrate was immense. Teenager Flynn Thomas led from the front in a performance which defied his years, as did lock Ben Fotheringham.

No 8 Lio Tosi carried the ball well and was even used at second five-eighth from a scrum move close to the Star line. While centre Matty Johnson got Marist on the front foot early in the game. There were heroes right across the park for Marist.

For Star, they were well and truly shut down - although wing Mana Harrison was able to find holes on occasions and was probably their best.

Battle lines have been drawn between rival Gore clubs Albion Excelsior and Pioneer for Saturday’s division two semifinal.

The other semifinal will be 80 kilometres away in Mossburn when the home team squares off against Waikiwi.

Albion Excelsior and Mossburn ended the round robin section with wins at the weekend. Mossburn’s 61-5 victory over OhaiNightcaps at Nightcaps was extra sweet for the Northern Southland team as it made them top qualifier in the competition.

The Jim Cormack-coached Albion Excelsior beat Waikiwi 16-12 in Gore.

‘‘It was a hard fought battle, both teams had a lot to play for,’’ McCormack said.

‘‘We had a good team effort and everyone put their hand up. Anyone that’s in the top four could easily win the [grand] final.’’

McCormack expects a big crowd for the game against Pioneer. In their two clashes this year, they have each had a win. Pioneer had a bye on Saturday.

Mossburn ran in nine tries on Saturday and first five-eighth Alex Chapman missed only one conversion.

Chapman was Mossburn’s player of the day, coach Greg Tither said. ‘‘He had a huge game.’’

‘‘The team combined well, our moves came off and we scored nice tries. The boys are in good shape.’’

Mossburn has beaten Waikiwi twice from as many games this year. If Mossburn wins again, they will host the grand final a week later, because they were the competition’s top qualifier.

It was the Invercargill clubs who prevailed in the other two division two fixtures on Saturday.

The Wakatipu Wanderers made the trip from Queenstown and were well beaten 72-19 by Blues B in the game played at Blues.

Marist B ensured it was a golden day for the Miller St-based club when they banked a 32-12 win over Tokanui before heading to watch the club’s premier team lift the Galbraith Shield at Rugby Park.

In division three action Riverton finished the round-robin part of the season unbeaten beating Star B 32-12 in the game played as the curtain-raiser at Rugby Park before the Galbraith Shield final.

Otautau retained second sport but only just with a 19-17 win over Bluff Collegiate bounced back in impressive fashion after a difficult couple of weeks to beat BalfourLumsden 22-17, while Bush Pirates grabbed an important 32-5 victory over Pirates-Old Boys B.