Woodlands eye third straight title

Woodlands will shoot for a third straight Galbraith Shield title on Saturday at Rugby Park when they take on Pirates-Old Boys.

If Woodlands can topple Pirates-Old Boys they will become the first club to win three or more Southland premier club rugby titles in a row since the golden era of Blues, who won eight in a row from 1987 through to 1994.

Woodlands booked their Galbraith Shield final spot on Friday night with a 55-17 victory over Star.

Pirates-Old Boys had already progressed to the final before the final week of the round-robin.

But despite being the standout team through the first round, Pirates-Old Boys have somewhat limped to the final.

They won seven straight games to start the 2022 season but have lost three of their last five outings.

Despite winning their final round-robin fixture, against Midlands, the Surrey Park lads were far from convincing in the 26-17 victory over the bottom-ofthe-table side in Winton.

The two teams were locked up at 12-12 at halftime before Midlands scored first in the second half to make it 17-12, and an upset looked on the cards.

However, tries by Jordan Tooby and Isaac Te Tamaki lifted Pirates-Old Boys to the 26-17 win.

Although it was not the confidence-boosting performance Pirates-Old Boys would have hoped for, for Midlands it was a strong outing to finish their season.

In the third game of the round, the Eastern-Northern Barbarians blitzed Marist 61-28, adding to their frustration that they won’t be in the playoffs this year.

Southland’s premier club rugby competition traditionally features semifinals, but the late start to the season prompted Rugby Southland to scrap them and instead hold a straight final.

The Barbarians finished fourth. Even more frustrated are Blues who were unbeaten through the second round of the competition and finished third on the points table behind Pirates-Old Boys and Woodlands.