Final four found for Metro championship
The semifinalists have been decided for the Christchurch Metro rugby competition with favourites Lincoln University squaring off against Christchurch and University to play Sydenham.
Lincoln University’s third consecutive premier division one championship isn’t a done deal after University grabbed a surprise 29-27 upset over them on Saturday.
Lincoln coach Dave Perrin said he wasn’t surprised at the ‘‘upset’’ as he knew while his team was improving round after round, so were their opponents.
‘‘They got on top of us early and took their opportunities.
‘‘We came out in the second half but there were a couple of mistakes at the end which cost us.’’
Perrin wasn’t blaming the late yellow card to hooker Nick Werahiko for their last-gasp loss, but said missed tackles his side would usually make cost them.
While they beat University comfortably 43-10 only six weeks ago, Perrin said the second round of the competition and finals bring a new level and his side would have to lift in order to defend their title.
‘‘We are at the sharp end of the competition and everyone comes up a couple of notches. While we were dominant in the first half of the season, [but] all four of us going in to the finals have the ability to win.’’
Perrin is expecting nothing different from his side this weekend against Christchurch, but admitted there were question marks over the availability of star first-five Brett Cameron, Ben Lake and forward Ben Morris after they all left the field with injury.
Meanwhile Christchurch coach Simon Kneebone said the home advantage for Lincoln would be tough for his side who would have to be at ‘‘peak performance’’ to beat the form side of the competition.
Lincoln were undone by their town counterparts in the final top six play-off round, losing on home turf after conceding a try (and the DCL Shield) in the last minute after fighting back from 24-5 down early in the second half to lead 27-24 in the dying minutes.
Ultimately it was yellow cards which brought about their demise. Werahiko was in the bin when University scored twice late and halfback Jack Stratton was cooling his
‘‘While we were dominant in the first half ...all four of us going in to the finals have the ability to win.’’ Dave Perrin , Lincoln University coach.
heels when lock Jack Greenslade rumbled over for the last-minute try.
It was sweet revenge for University, which had lost its Cup contest to Lincoln, 43-10, and it meant that the same two teams will not have to square off again in the semi-finals next week.
Despite the loss, Lincoln University still topped the table with 21 points. Finishing second equal with University, Sydenham cranked up the pressure to finish over the top of Christchurch on Saturday, scoring all 15 points of the second half.
There was little between the teams for the first 58 minutes, Christchurch holding its four-point half-time lead until that point. It was impressive Canterbury centre Michael Green who secured the Sydenham win.
Several times he threatened to break the flat Christchurch defence and after 70 minutes of trying he was successful searing through a gap. He was stopped by the last line of defence, but the ball fell to fullback Jack McLeod in open space and he had the pace to go all the way.
New Brighton also had to come from a 10-6 deficit at the break to beat Burnside for a second time. Burnside dominated the first half, but Brighton was a different team in the second half as the forwards stamped their mark. Two converted tries inside the first 10 minutes turned the course of the match.
In the bottom six, Sumner racked up a half-century against Linwood, but it was not all one-way traffic with Linwood scoring four tries for a bonus point.
A gritty Belfast avenged its Cup loss to Shirley at Sheldon Park and Old Boys ground out a 10-3 win over Marist Albion in a dour match for their second win against that rival this season.