Stags miss chance to roll Auckland

Rugby: Only in Southland – a burnt cheese roll disrupts an NPC fixture, writes Logan Savory.

It’s a decent-sized inconvenience that simply now prompts a chuckle for those affected.

Four minutes into the second half of the Southland-Auckland National Provincial Championship rugby game in Invercargill yesterday, the fire alarm sounded.

A pre-recorded message advised the close to 3000 in attendance to head towards the nearest exit.

Those in the corporate boxes filed out onto the nearby Tweed St. Fans in the stands and the terrace areas were ushered onto the playing field to safety as a fire crew arrived to assess the situation.

The source of the fire alarm? A burnt cheese roll in the Southland supporters’ clubrooms. A comical culprit, given the cheese roll is so synonymous to Southland.

An overcooking of a cheese roll – aka Southland Sushi – led to a close to 20-minute break in play.

While there was some frustration behind the delay, the game-day DJ managed to find the funny side as Billy Joel’s song We Didn’t Start the Fire echoed around the ground.

Auckland eventually eked out a 24-23 victory.

Southland coach Dale MacLeod could only shrug his shoulders and ponder what next, when asked about having to deal with a unique 20-minute delay.

The week before, his team endured a nightmare journey to Blenheim, which resulted in kick-off for their game against Tasman being delayed by 31⁄2 hours.

Then, minutes before the start, starting lock Ben Morris suffered a serious knee injury.

‘‘It’s the world we live in now,’’ MacLeod joked about the stoppage because of a burnt cheese roll.

Although he couldn’t fault his players’ commitment yesterday, he felt accuracy was lacking and some did not take the opportunity handed to them. The set piece was a problem area.

‘‘We’ve just got to be a little bit more patient around what we do.‘‘

Southland have pushed powerhouse unions Tasman and Auckland to the wire in the opening two rounds, picking up bonus points in both.

Despite his frustrations yesterday, MacLeod acknowledged the results point to big improvements in recent years.

‘‘The boys are trying hard, so I can’t knock the intent and knock the work they are doing ... This group is a very good group.’’

Next up for Southland is the derby with Otago, arguably the biggest fixture on the Southland rugby calendar.