Otago, Taieri Lakes dominant

OTAGO and Taieri Lakes have won all their games and lead the men’s metropolitan senior A pennant series after the third round in Dunedin on Saturday.

The Balmacewen team was without Otago No 2 Brandon Hodgson and national lefthanded champion Ben Patston, who was playing premier rugby.

But it took advantage of playing at home to beat St Clair Gold, winning four of the six games.

Duncan Croudis was dominant in the battle of the No 1 players, beating Cameron Botting in 14 holes.

No 2 Thomas Gillan, No 3 Tyrone Ratahi and No 5 Murray Edgar all posted wins for Otago to ensure their team’s win.

The Taieri Lakes team had a close tussle with St Clair Blue but team captain and No 2 Ken Shaw beat Connor Ross on the final green to get his team home.

Seasoned campaigners Mark Andrews and Brian Shaw posted good wins for Taieri while 15yearold Hayden Robertson celebrated his senior A debut in style, beating Cody McMullan on the 17th green.

The most interest centred on the middleofthetable clash, with Chisholm Links having home advantage over Island Park.

For Chisholm, Mark Collie and Sean Geary posted convincing winning margins while Peter Rae and Jason Pegler won by two holes each.

In the battle of the No 1 players, Brent Butler edged home on the final green at the expense of Otago representative Michael Smith.

The St Clair teams may be languishing at the bottom of the points table but neither team has enjoyed home advantage during the first three rounds.

These teams need to finish in the top three after 10 rounds to make the playoffs and despite having no points to date, they have a plethora of home games over the next seven rounds.