Touch and go as Garin miss out

A tight finish to the Tasman secondary schools touch championships has seen Garin College narrowly miss out on qualifying for the next phase.

In the end it was points differential that separated the top three teams in the mixed grade at the Tahunanui Playing Fields on Sunday after Waimea College, Motueka High School and Garin each finished the day with four wins from five games.

Waimea took the title due to their superior points differential of 24, which came courtesy of their big wins over Nayland College (11-2), Golden Bay High School (15-3) and Garin (8-4), while their only defeat was a tight one, losing to Motueka 5-4.

Motueka’s victory over Waimea proved decisive. Despite losing 3-2 against Garin, they too had a superior points differential and were able to secure the second qualifying spot on countback, leaving Garin languishing in third.

The boys and girls grades were contested by just two teams, meaning each of the participants had guaranteed their place at the South Island championships just by showing up.

Nelson College beat Marlborough Boys’ College in their three games, winning 8-4, 7-4 and 8-7 to take the boys title, while Nelson College for Girls held off Marlborough Girls’ College 6-4, 3-2 and 8-6 to win the girls grade.

The South Island championships is being held at Sheldon Park in Christchurch on March 25-26.