Taieri College win biggest shock among notable results

THERE were several eyepopping results in the Otago Schools Rugby Championship on Saturday.

Southland Boys’ thumped fellow division 1 heavyweight King’s 600 in Invercargill.

Otago Boys’ also had a big win over defending champion John McGlashan.

Its 543 win was perhaps not as much of a jolt given Johnnies have slipped back to the pack this season.

But arguably the biggest shock came in the second division.

Perennial battler Taieri College upset South Otago 107 at Peter Johnstone Park.

For some context, South Otago had recorded three comfortable wins leading into the encounter, while Taieri College was still to post a win.

It was humbled 5319 by St

Kevin’s in its previous outing, but Taieri tossed out the form book and produced a quality defensive effort.

Cocoach Jared Peacock was thrilled with the result.

‘‘We had a preseason game against them . . . and went down by 30odd, so they had a really good turnaround,’’ he said.

Fullback Isaac Sinclair opened the scoring in the game with a penalty in the sixth minute. The score remained 30 for the remainder of the half.

South Otago prop Koen Robson burst through to score from 15m and give the visiting side the lead early in the second spell.

But Taieri pinned South Otago in its own half and was eventually rewarded when replacement frontrower Alo Solofuti crashed over following a lengthy buildup.

South Otago had picked up a couple of yellow cards and was down to 13 when Solofuti scored.

Taieri openside Jalen Forgie snatched multiple turnovers and tackled everything that moved. Fellow loose forward Cameron Lord put in a big defensive shift as well, and Sinclair’s kicking game proved instrumental is setting up the win.

In the other division 2 games, St Kevin’s beat Mt Aspiring 4521 in Wanaka, and Otago Boys’ 2nds edged Dunstan 2615 in Dunedin.

Wakatipu beat Waitaki Boys’ 4024 in a division 1 game in Queenstown.

Wakatipu scored a couple of tries early in the second half to establish a winning buffer, but the game was evenly contested.

Winger Ben Hogan was a standout with two tries for Wakatipu. He showed plenty of pace and combined nicely with fullback Harrison Miller, who also bagged a brace.