Sea Eagles are at the top with three still to go
The Papakura Sea Eagles are the minor premiers of the Fox Memorial Trophy competition.
Richie Blackmore and his men wrapped up the Rukutai Shield with their 46-0 win over the Otahuhu Leopards in front of an appreciative home crowd at Prince Edward Park in Papakura last Saturday.
The victory was the 15th straight win of the season and they now can’t be overtaken, regardless of what happens in their last three games of the season against the Howick Hornets, the Richmond Bulldogs and the Glenora Bears.
The Sea Eagles have won the Rukutai only twice in the trophy’s 76-year history, in 2005 and 2007. Blackmore has won it four times, three with the Leopards in 2008, 2009 and 2010 and again this year.
The former Kiwi is stoked to have won it in such style but stresses that the job’s not done yet.
‘‘We’ve got to make sure that complacency doesn’t set in over the next three weeks. We still have a couple of challenging sides to play.’’
The first of those is the Howick Hornets at Paparoa Park in Howick on Saturday.
Blackmore says the Hornets are genuine threats to his side’s unbeaten campaign.
‘‘They’re going to be passionate and highly motivated as they use this match to commemorate their long-serving secretary Leah Johnson who passed away recently.’’
As the Sea Eagles coast into the playoffs, the Leopards will be fighting for their survival in the Fox.
Their match against the Northcote Tigers at Bert Henham Park in Otahuhu on Saturday will go some way to deciding their fate. Both teams sit at the bottom of the Fox table with four points.
In the women’s premiership, the Marlins Wahine are far from happy with their 16-14 win over neighbours and arch-rivals the Papakura Sisters at Ray Small Park in Papakura last Sunday.
‘‘We made too many errors,’’ says manager Karla Matua.
‘‘We dropped a lot of ball and made silly mistakes which are not normally part of our game, especially on attack.
‘‘Defensively we were strong and have done a lot of work in this area but we let our attacking standards slip.
‘‘We must continue to improve and work hard on our defensive structures and get our cohesion in attack right. It should start coming together with all available players back from injury.’’
The Wahine scored three tries, a double to Amber Kani, the other to newcomer Kaylen Ikitule. Kimiora Nati kicked two goals.