Rams win echoes forebears’ feat
The Southland Rams etched their name into the history books on Saturday when they become the first holders of the 1908 Wahaika.
The Rams took on the Aoraki Eels in the South Island Provincial Premiership rugby league fixture in Invercargill, in a game which also doubled as the first contest for the new trophy.
The 1908 Wahaika was created to commemorate the first provincial first-class rugby league match in the South Island, between Southland and South Canterbury in 1908.
The game was played at the Caledonian Grounds in Timaru.
Each time the two provinces now clash in the South Island Provincial Premiership the 1908 Wahaika will be up for grabs.
Southland won the first encounter in 1908 and 111 years on it was again the boys from Southland who were triumphant.
Southland raced out to a 16-0 lead at Elles Rd on Saturday, on the back of early tries to Daniel Low, Dylan Lovett, and Tom Watts, and a blowout looked on the cards.
However, Aoraki responded to bring it back to 16-12 by halftime.
In the second half Aoraki, trailing just 24-18, were on attack and looking to lock the scores up. But the Rams latched onto an intercept and went the length of the field which led to wing Tee Peteru to scoring.
Southland eventually wrapped up a 34-24 win.
The victory meant the Rams have gone two-from-two in the South Island Premiership, having beaten the West Coast Chargers 32-18 in Invercargill the previous Saturday.
Naturally, co-captain Dylan Lovett was delighted with the latest victory, singling out the hard-working forward park for special praise.
‘‘That was a big game against Aoraki,’’ Lovett said.
‘‘Two years ago it was a draw, last year we won by two. They are always a good team to play.
‘‘[You] can’t fault any of the boys in this team, it’s unreal.
‘‘We really brought it on in that second half, four or five sets of [defence] on our own line, and then to get that intercept and get down the field, if they had scored it would have been all on.
‘‘It took the wind out of their sails.’’
The Rams have now set their sights on their third straight home game this Saturday when they take on Canterbury Maori in Invercargill.
Lovett was expecting another big challenge.
‘‘They’ll have a big pack. We are small but we always come out firing.’’
After the showdown with Canterbury Ma¯ ori, Southland will take on the Otago Whalers in Dunedin as the Rams try to put themselves in a good position to take out the 2019 South Island Premiership.