Tip sinks as Green Island pounces on Harbour
The Grand Canyon
Tell me it’s not true. “Lukey” and “Crawf” from Kaik have been wandering around town on a Saturday afternoon wondering where their club has gone.
Rugby Chat
We are going to do Rugby Chat live from Abalone Arena at Port on Saturday after the HarbourTaieri game. Now we know there is no love lost between these two outer extremities so it promises fireworks on and off the paddock. We’ll chat to the captains and some of the luminaries from both clubs kicking off at 5.15pm on Saturday night. Just go to odt.co.nz on the home page and click on Rugby Chat if you’ve got a spare 20 minutes to kill.
This weekend
Lost to Geoff Simons from AU thanks to the Eel P2s not fronting — thanks, lads. A bitter pill to swallow. On to man of the hour Mike Casey so surely I get off the duck? Kaik (13+) have strengthened their lineout with Sinamoni, and Zingari are trotting out a similar backline, so this only goes one way.
AU are having their first hitout so picking the Magpies (12) at the Pony Pit on the strength of that but this will be close. Excuse the pun, but AU are the dark horses this year. It’s a mustwin game for the Hawks (12) and if they get enough ball up front, they might just get it done — but man it will be close. Varsity (12) are at home to the GI Spannerheads and should be desperate to get the first W, so the Bookworms, just. The game of the round this week comes from prem colts with Kaik taking on Southern. Kaik (12) lost to the Sharks last week in a repeat of the final from last year but were desperately unlucky at Shark Park. They win, just, but the word is Southern are the giant killers this year.
Thrashed Willis Paterson last week in Country — no surprise there — and on to Potter this week from Upper Clutha. The games are being played as I write this because of the “duck massacre” so you will know the results as you read this. The Maggots (12) will get it done over Matak at home. Alexandra (13+) will be too good for the Cromwell Cavaliers. The Goats (13+) will account for Wakatip. Upper Clutha (13+) are defending the “Horse” and will be too good for Arrowtown.
The wrap
You guessed it — tipped Harbour to make the six in a canter and they trip over a spanner at the Toolbox and fall to GI. Word on the street is they were comfortably ahead, made a raft of changes and GI pounced. Jack Leslie was the toast of Southern when he kicked a sideline conversion to steal the Cavanagh away from Varsity. The coach was pretty happy but he is Jack’s father, the legendary JL! The Eels came away with a comfortable win in the end but it was dingdong battle for the most part. Wee tip to Kaik: you actually have to win a lineout to win most games. The Sharks perennially lose to Zingers but won comfortably. The Colours boys were competitive apart from the fact their backline left all their fingers in the changing sheds!
The rules debacle
The Mickey Mouse rules that we have copied from league in the Super competition are being played in club comps this year — fantastic. The 50/20 kicking rule, drop outs from your own goal line and whatever other insanity they have dragged. To add insult to injury, they want to depower scrums. So you can’t push past a metre and ahalf except from a 5m scrum. If a scrum collapses, the team putting it in gets a free kick if the ref can’t decide who was at fault. All designed to kill teams with a great scrum. Patently ridiculous.
Look in the mirror
I see Pirates were having a crack at Dunedin last week about ‘‘tempting’’ some of their women players and causing them to pull out of the competition and consigning them to become junior club only. Strong words! I’ve done some digging on this and found this is not quite right. I’d suggest to Pirates that they should talk to some of the players as to why they left. You may learn some interesting facts about running teams. I certainly hope Pirates do come back as a senior club, starting with a couple of colts teams. Some of the lessons you may learn from those discussions I’m sure will prove invaluable.
Down on the farm
I hear Jacko in the North has an RNZAF Hercules tanked up and ready to fly a fuselage full of players in. Mate, you might want to hurry — the season could be over. Looks like Kurow may have to fall over to lose the competition up there. Matt Faddes is already there, and favourite son Hayden Parker is not far from departing the shores of Japan. Also, the word is Cromwell Goat star Hayden Todd is on his way back to make sure he is ready for Heartland. Now that the Goats have lost the ‘‘Horse’’ he might get there sooner! A pleaseexplain from Heriot: you turn over Clutha Valley last week then choke against Toko? Do we need drug tests down there?
Top men
‘‘Potter’’ from Upper Clutha (apparently his real name is Richard Pledger) was finally made a life member on the shores of Lake Wanaka at the weekend. Potter has done it all for the club: played 230odd games, chairman, president, fundraiser and there for building of the new clubrooms. He is the heart and soul of country rugby, and deserves this honour. Potter has turned his hand to reffing and is doing his first prem game at Matak tomorrow. As a sidebar, ‘‘JT’’ (Johnny Timu) is running the touch — great work, mate. Just to add to great blokes from Upper Clutha, Nick (Teddy) Thompson was also made a life member and apparently has the same resume as Potter except he’s a forward who played 280 games. Not to be outdone, Taieri’s favourite son Mike Casey was made a life member on Saturday night and nobody I think has done more for the Eels. Played for Eels as a kid and returned in 2003.He was instrumental in getting them back into prem ranks in 2008. He’s been club captain, manager of numerous sides including bannerwinning prems, and has always been their goto recruitment guy. Mike bleeds blue and gold and doesn’t take a backward step when it comes to the Eels. He is a true grassroots rugby man and has immense respect from all the other clubs. Word is it came as a complete surprise and overwhelmed him but he still managed to speak for an hour. Good on ya, mate.