Big Wakatipu win reshuffles quarterfinal positions

THE playoff positions for the Central Otago premier club rugby competition appeared all signed and sealed leading into Saturday’s final qualifying games.

But Wakatipu forced a rearrangement of the standings.

It pulled off a stunning 937 victory over the Cavaliers at Cromwell.

The result bumped Wakatipu up to second position behind the unbeaten Cromwell Goats and, most importantly, gives the Queenstowners a home quarterfinal this weekend

Upper Clutha.

Upper Clutha went into the weekend with a +29 points differential advantage over Wakatipu and extended that to +59 with its 5020 victory over Alexandra at Tarras.

That seemed to be good enough to retain second placing, but Wakatipu had other ideas.

‘‘We knew we would need to win by at least 50,’’ Wakatipu coach Brett Anderson said.

‘‘As it turned out we were close to a halfcentury by halftime and the tries just kept coming.’’

Anderson was delighted his against players adhered to the game plan.

‘‘It’s easy for play to become loose and scrappy when the score starts to mount, but our guys maintained their discipline well.’’

Anderson reserved praise for props Adam Fleming and Will Burdon, who had mighty games, and gave a special mention to secondfive Danny Kayes, who joined the club only a month ago. He scored three tries.

Wakatipu beat Upper Clutha 140 when they met in Queenstown a few weeks ago.

Maniototo turned in another gutsy performance, holding competition leader the Cromwell Goats to 125 at Ranfurly.

Maniototo had earlier upset Wakatipu 105 and held Arrowtown to 80, demonstrating that it is one of the hardest teams in the competition to put away.

If Jack Wild had had his kicking boots on, the score could have been even closer. He missed two penalty attempts from close to the posts.

The Goats led 50 at halftime, through a try by firstfive Rhys Harrold, which is how things stayed until the final quarter, when winger Devon Mathieson dotted down.

Wanting 10 points to bring up a century for the season, the Goats goalkicker Ben Maxwell managed just a solitary conversion.

The victory means the Vincent Shield for firstround supremacy will remain in the Cromwell trophy cabinet.

Maniototo replacement halfback Dean Chalmers rounded out the scoring with a try in the dying stages.

Although Maniototo will be disappointed to miss the top four, the new Australian NRLstyle playoff format means any team in the bottom four can still come through to claim the top prize.

In next weekend’s quarterfinals Cromwell Goats will host Arrowtown (the White Horse Trophy will be at stake) at Cromwell, while Upper Clutha will travel to Queenstown to play Wakatipu.

In the bottom four, Maniototo will be at home to the Cromwell Cavaliers at Ranfurly and Alexandra will host Matakanui Combined.

PIRATES Old Boys kept their unbeaten record intact in this season’s Southland Galbraith Shield senior club rugby with a 4625 win over Star on Saturday.

The big crowd that attended club day at Surrey Park was treated to an excellent game of running rugby, played at a high pace and featuring some heavy defence.

Both teams earned numerous turnovers in the first 20 minutes, which meant play moved quickly from end to end.

Centre Isaac Te Tamaki scored first for the Hawks, after a quick tap taken from a penalty caught Star off guard.

The Hawks then lost a man to the bin after a defensive misread by Dan Cairns, who was having his first game back in two years.

Star kicked two penalty goals before POB struck back with its second try.

Te Tamaki crossed for his second try and Greg Dyer landed a penalty goal to make it 206 at halftime.

Star scored immediately after the resumption but that effort was cancelled out when Dyer sniped down the short side and put Te Tamaki away for his hattrick.

From the kickoff, POB went the length of the field, increasing the margin to 3413.

To Star’s credit, it did not lie down, and as the bodies tired the game opened up even more.

Both teams crossed for another two tries each.

Te Tamaki was man of the match, and flanker Dustin Coveney and second fiveeighth Jaye Thompson also played well. Captain Craig Smith impressed in his 200th game for POB.

In the other two premier grade games, Woodlands beat

Blues 3219 at Balmoral Dr, and Marist beat the Eastern Northern Barbarians 3229 at the Gore Showgrounds.

In the Ack Soper Shield competition, Wyndham beat Riversdale 2115.

Wyndham scored two tries in the opening 10 minutes and Riversdale did well to battle its way back with some good rolling mauls and closed the gap to 1815 at half time.

The second half was a typical country rugby slog, as Wyndham hung on for a welldeserved win.

Waikaka beat Midlands 2120 in Winton and Edendale beat Tokanui 3731.