Marist B build nicely towards crunch stage
The division two competition has been reduced to eight teams for the second round, after the bottom placed Riverton were demoted to division three.
Ohai Nightcaps have won all eight of their games to date, with five of those wins being dominant bonus-point wins. On Saturday they will again start favourites on their home track against Marist B. Ohai-Nightcaps beat Marist B 28-12 in a night game at Les George Oval before the Easter weekend. Coach Rodger Eade commented after that game that he thought Marist would be a dangerous team as the season wore on.
‘‘Their big boys have so much experience, they’ll be tough once they get fit and organised.’’
Those comments from Eade have proved accurate as Marist B have recovered from a shocking start to the season and have now won three games in a row.
Marist B coach Karl Shaw said after their latest 37-26 victory over Waikiwi it they were starting to build.
‘‘We are just getting all of our players available, and getting good numbers along to training. The boys’ heads are up and we are ready to continue on with the job.’’
Waikiwi will be looking to get their season back on track at Donovan Park against Collegiate on Saturday. When these two sides played each other earlier in the season Waikiwi beat Collegiate 36-35 with a last-minute try.
After a couple of average performances recently Waikiwi coach Derek Manson said his team needed the week off to regroup and tidy up a few aspects of their game.
Collegiate had the bye a fortnight ago so they will be hoping they haven’t lost momentum since their last game on May 16 when they beat Mossburn 46-19.The Pioneer match against the Mossburn Stags at Newman Park should be another close one. Mossburn are coming off a 37-point win over Mataura, while Pioneer dominated against Blues B – scoring more than 50 points for the second game in a row.
The result of the game at Tulloch Park between Mataura and Blues B is hard to predict. These two teams met four weeks ago with Mataura winning 11-5.