Three teams unbeaten in metro club rugby race
Lincoln University, Sydenham and Christchurch are the only unbeaten sides in Canterbury Metro senior club rugby following round three over Easter.
In challenging wet weather on Wednesday night, Lincoln University gained a hard-fought 29-9 victory over winless Sumner, while Sydenham toppled previously unbeaten Shirley 27-7.
Both Sydenham and Lincoln University banked bonus point victories for picking up four tries, which sees them sit first equal on the ladder.
Promising young fullback Will Jordan scored another try for Christchurch, while turning in a man of the match display, as his side overcame Marist Albion 31-23 on Thursday night.
It was the fifth try in two matches for the New Zealand under-20s squad member, who bagged four against High School Old Boys in their 62-8 rout the week before.
Burnside’s heartening start to the season continued with a 26-22 upset over Linwood, who have lost all three matches to begin 2017.
New Brighton had too much class for winless HSOB, triumphing 41-20 on Friday.
University walked away with the points after beating Belfast 37-22 at Ilam Fields on Saturday.
After last week’s hyped-up match with ring-in All Black captain Kieran Read, the game was a let-down for the local crowd as University failed to reach their best in perfect conditions.
University coach Sid Tauamiti was pleased to secure the win, but put the mistakes from his side down to poor decision making and ‘‘selfish’’ play from some of his team. ‘‘[It was] definitely a sub-par performance.
‘‘We’re just not following our team philosophy really, there’s a lot of individual stuff out there and that’s not the ethos we are trying to build.
‘‘I guess it’s about our process as well, we didn’t go through our processes well in different areas of the field. Just the mindset of not trying to play in the wrong parts of the field, there was a little bit of selfishness out there.’’
University captain Sam Godwin left the field after being caught at the bottom of a ruck. His jaw was heavily bandaged and he was taken to hospital for stitches and may miss his side’s next match against Sumner.
CORRECTION
In last week’s club rugby report, it was incorrectly reported that High School Old Boys prop Jonny Direen had been given a red card for a rucking incident. The player dismissed was his teammate Nick Cave, who was suspended for four games last week by the Canterbury Rugby Union judiciary. The error is regretted.