Southern cup action
CENTRAL Otago retained the Topp Cup with a hardfought 2924 win over Southern Region in crisp conditions in Alexandra yesterday.
Central kicked for the corners early on, piling the pressure on the Southern wingers which led to an error that Central capitalised on.
Second fiveeighth Hayden Todd scored inside five minutes to give the home side a confident start. Both sides had plenty of possession and strung phases together. Both midfields ran hard with the ball and offloaded well.
Southern hit back when centre Jonny Sargent crossed after a nice buildup from the forwards. Central regained the ascendancy back as halftime approached.
Both wingers, Liam Jenkins and Ryan Edgerton crossed to give Central a handy lead.
Jonny Sargent scored his second try just before halftime to narrow the gap to 1512 at the break.
The early part of the second half was a backandforth contest.
The majority of the play was in the middle of the park and neither side gained much.
The deadlock was broken when Hayden Todd crossed for his second try.
This was converted by Kane Dodds to give Central a handy 10point lead. Southern had to be the next to score and started to find space through the middle.
The forward runners made metres and the added pressure caused Central to give away penalties. From a lineout drive close to the Central line, Southern prop Ben Millar scored to give his side hope. Both sides emptied the benches, which gave added enthusiasm and pep to the latter stages of the game.
Central attacked the breakdown vigorously and started to earn penalties, which gave it confidence.
Flanker Josh Brown barged his way over with less than 10 minutes on the clock. Dodds’ successful conversion gave Central a 2917 lead. Southern attacked as the final minutes ticked away and it scored again through substitute Mark McKenzie. Joe Andresen converted to keep the game alive. Central defended for the remaining few minutes to see out the game.
There were many standout players for both sides. Central blindside Josh Brown was immense, ruthless on defence and attacking the breakdown with force. Lock Malcolm Sutherland was another to stand out.
His setpiece prowess and ball carries were top drawer. First fiveeighth Tom Dougherty was dangerous and unpredictable. His combination with his midfield gave his side great goforward. Both Central wingers showed their pace and agility with ball in hand.
The Southern front row of Craig Stanway, Chris Preddy and Ben Millar were immense for their side. They excelled at their core roles and never took a back step physically. Millar, in particular, had a superb game. The midfield pairing of Hayden Wyber and Jonny Sargent was strong for Southern. With ball in hand they were very dangerous and hardly missed a beat on defence. Rym Geary and Mark McKenzie added punch from the bench.
The Central Development side had a strong win, 547 over
its Southern rival.
Central Development 54 (Warrick Cheney 3, Alex Grogan, Rob Hewitt, Tom Grandiek, Matt Griffin, Ollie McLelland, Sam Pringle, Matt McLelland tries; Griffin con, Ethan Molloy con), Southern Development 7 (Andy Carruthers try; Brayden Wilson con). Halftime: 247.