Crescent still unbeaten after late win

CRESCENT remains unbeaten in the Southern Region after four rounds after a lastminute 2220 win over West Taieri at Outram.

West Taieri dominated territory and possession in the first half and put Crescent under a lot of pressure.

Crescent defended stoutly and forced West Taieri to make errors without really capitalising on the lion’s share of possession they were afforded.

West Taieri went into halftime 108 ahead in a closely fought first half.

The second half was more evenly contested as Crescent’s counterattack started to cause the home side problems. West Taieri was leading 2015 with time almost up as Crescent mounted one last attack.

This attack would end up with Crescent being awarded a penalty try due to an illegal attempt to strip the ball on the try line, giving Crescent the win and an extended unbeaten streak.

Clutha Valley finished strongly to beat Toko 4522 at the Balclutha Showgrounds on Thursday night.

Toko started the stronger of the two sides and its forwards managed to play over the advantage line.

The physicality was something else as the ruck was hotly contested and there was plenty of felling in the tackles. Valley held a slim 138 lead at the break.

Toko controlled the opening stages of the second half before running out of steam and allowing Valley to come back into the match.

Valley was far more structured towards the end of the match and made the most of a stagnant Toko defensive line. Two late tries to Valley blew the score out somewhat unfairly.

Heriot have beaten Owaka 2512 in a strong match played on Friday night in Heriot.

Heriot started strongly and controlled the opening 15 minutes of the match. Heriot’s pack carried strongly and effectively.

Once Owaka managed to hold on to possession it looked slick on attack and created numerous chances that were not taken.

A late penalty for the home side gave them a 155 lead at the break with the game still hanging in the balance. The second half was controlled for the most part by the visiting side who forced their way into the right areas of the field but poor decisionmaking and a sloppy lineout did not help matters.

Heriot finished the stronger out of the two teams and took a welldeserved victory which keeps them in touch with the leaders.

Clutha have retained the Helen Huddleston/George McKenzie Memorial Trophy with a 3120 win over a committed and dogged Clinton side at the break.

Two further secondhalf tries were enough for Clutha to take maximum points from the match. Clinton was in the battle for large periods of the match and managed to put Clutha under pressure, especially at scrum time where they earned a penalty try for their troubles.

Clutha, led by forwards Daniel Miller and Bax Colley made the metres up front before earning the right to go wide and score points.