Returning Riverton claim Portside
Riverton have claimed the bragging rights in the battle of Southland’s portside rugby towns.
Riverton beat Bluff 19-15 at Bluff on Saturday in a fiercely fought division two Southland club rugby clash which doubled as a Portside Trophy fixture.
It was another positive step for the Riverton club which had a season out last year when club officials decided to pull their teams from Southland’s competitions in the wake of Covid.
When rugby returned after being on hiatus, the country was at alert level 2 which meant some restrictions were in place including gatherings being limited to 100 or less.
With members’ health in mind, they felt they could not operate safely while complying with alert level 2 guidelines.
Soon after the decision was made, the country was moved to alert level 1.
Many players headed to other clubs last year but much to the delight of the Riverton club, most have returned. It also has picked up a group of other young players to put its senior team in good stead for the 2021 season.
Riverton started its campaign with an impressive 69-0 first-up win over Bush Pirates before seven days later toppling Bluff.
Captain Nick Brown is pleased with the squad they have.
‘‘It’s looking real good. We’ve got a young enthusiastic team, it’s bringing a lot of joy to the club, it makes it enjoyable and keeps everyone turning up every week.’’
Coach Grant Anderson is also pleased with the injection of youth.
‘‘We had 10 debut players last week and seven first-year senior players, so it was great.
‘‘It was great for them to stand up [against Bluff] and the defence is just getting better and better each week so it’s fantastic,’’ he said.
The Portside battle was arguably the match of the round in Southland’s division two competition, although Drummond-Limehills-Star provided an indicator they could be a team to watch in 2021.
After recording a tight 22-19 first-up win in week one, DLS backed it up by knocking over Balfour-Lumsden 33-13 on Saturday.
In division one action, the early signs are Wyndham look to be powerhouse.
After pipping Waikaka in the Eastern Southland derby last week, Wyndham ran up a 42-0 victory over a plucky Waikiwi team in Invercargill on Saturday.
Tokanui, Edendale, and Riversdale are the other teams to have won both games through the first two weeks of the division one competition.