Southern ................................. 20 Green Island ............................. 3 University ............................... ZingariRichmond .................... 17 12

Southern first five Jack Leslie mastered the breeze at Bathgate Park to help steer his side to a 203 win over Green Island.

The Grizzlies led 30 at the break. Travis Cashmore knocked over a penalty in 34th minute. Considering it had battled into the wind, Green Island was pretty happy with its position with 40 minutes remaining.

But the wind swirled around more in the second spell and Leslie took control of the game with some fabulous positional kicking.

Southern swung on to attack and hooker Jake McEwan, who had a strong game, drove over from a rolling

University triumphed in an errorriddled bottomofthetable clash at the University Oval.

ZingariRichmond, playing with a strong wind at its back, set the game alight in the opening minutes when first five Shaun Driver charged down a University clearing kick and regathered the ball for an unimpeded run to give his side an early 70 lead.

Then, despite maintaining a decisive territorial advantage, ZingariRichmond kept University in the game with a string of unforced errors and penalties.

University replied in the 27th minute. It cleared from a penalty kick, but the ball bounced back in field instead of going into touch and winger Thomas Rance gathered and scored. ZingariRichmond kept up the string of unforced errors, leading to a try by openside James Fairbairn. University led 147 at the break. The second half became a drawnout affair, each side showing plenty of promise but keeping each other in the game through errors.

There was a scoring spree of sorts in the final minutes. Jacob WakariJones landed a 45m penalty for the students and Michael Cordtz gathered in a cross kick to score in the corner for the Dragons. and 80kmh crosswinds, kicking needed to be very accurate at Watson Park, and Harbour halfback Nathan Hastie produced just that.

Dunedin had no kicking game at all and that was the difference.

Both packs were outstanding defensively and tenaciously slogged it out all day. The backs, apart from tackling, were frozen spectators.

The only scoring came 30 minutes into the game when Harbour hooker Austin Atiga strolled through a ruck and cantered 20m to the line.

The first half was very even, both sides having periods on attack but not getting far due to handling difficulties.

Harbour crucially controlled the territory in the second half through Hastie. Dunedin’s kicking game in this period was poor, and nobody stepped up to take responsibility, so the Sharks remained pinned in their own territory.

In the dying minutes, Dunedin finally had the chance to save the game.

It bashed away at the Harbour line on the back of a string of penalties but coughed up possession, and the heroic defending team cleared to safety.

Hastie was outstanding for Harbour, and Atiga and prop Solomon Pole were into everything.

For Dunedin, loosies Josh Retter, Oliver Griffin and Hame Toma were at the heart of the team’s attack and defence.

The game won’t last long in the memories but the welcome from the Port weather is indelibly etched.