Pirates-Old Boys stun Woodlands
It’s first points to Pirates-Old Boys – just.
Many have circled PiratesOld Boys and Woodlands as the leading contenders for the 2022 Southland premier club rugby Galbraith Shield title.
On Saturday the two teams locked horns in round three of the competition and it took a last-minute try to Isaac Te Tamaki to lift Pirates-Old Boys to a thrilling 27-26 victory.
Pirates-Old Boys went into the fixture missing seven key players because of Covid-19. It prompted a makeshift forward pack to try to counter a Woodlands pack with plenty of strength about it.
Even Pirates-Old Boys cocoach Ben McHugh was surprised with just what unfolded from his understrength pack in the first 40 minutes of the game.
He declared it his team’s best half of rugby during his five years at the club. Pirates-Old Boys led 22-11 at the break despite playing into the wind. But how rugby can change. For 35 minutes of the second half Woodlands dominated proceedings, and in particular the ball, as the likes of halfback Liam Howley and first fiveeighth Marty McKenzie took charge.
All that the Pirates-Old Boys team could do was tackle like their lives depended on it but, even so, Woodlands scored 15 unanswered points to push out to a 26-22 lead.
In the dying minutes PiratesOld Boys were able to finally get their hands on the ball, and on the back of a couple of penalties marched down the field before Te Tamaki scored out wide to snatch a 27-26 lead.
Woodlands grabbed possession from the kickoff, but lock Jacob Harrex produced a big play when he turned the ball over and Pirates-Old Boys were able to find the touchline and nail the win.
The win was a massive confidence boost for Pirates-Old Boys and probably highlighted that the Surrey Park-based club has the most depth out of any in Southland at the moment, given what they were able to do with an under-resourced team.
Usual hooker Josh Harwood slotted in on the blindside flank and was outstanding, in particular with his work rate in defence, as was Harrex.
The sour point for Pirates-Old Boys was an injury to their fullback Kaea Nikora-Balloch. Nikora-Balloch dislocated his shoulder and there are concerns about how long he may be sidelined for, given he is part of this year’s Highlanders under20s setup.
While Pirates-Old Boys will take a significant amount of confidence out of the fact they have plenty of players to return, Woodlands too are in a similar boat.
Included is Stags midfielder Matt Whaanga who was making the shift back down to Invercargill yesterday.
It took a rampant second performance by the EasternNorthern Barbarians to shake off Midlands in the premier fixture played in Winton on Saturday.
The Barbarians led just 8-6 at halftime playing into a strong wind as Midlands put the fellow country club under pressure, in particular at the breakdown.
However, after a chat at halftime with coach Bretton Taylor, the Barbarians took their game up a level in the second half, racking up 40 points to claim a 48-13 victory.
Second five-eighth Angus Simmers, lock Brenton Howden, and halfback Levi Wairau were the Barbarians’ best throughout the 80 minutes.
It’s been a stop-start season to date for the Barbarians, given that last week Star pulled out of the fixture because of Covid-19 in the camp, while next week they have the bye.
It also took a dominant second half from Blues to pull away from Star at their premier game played at Waverley Park on Saturday.
Blues led only 15-7 at halftime, and also had a player red-carded for a tackle which went wrong, meaning Star went into the halftime break viewing an upset on the horizon with the wind behind them.
However, Blues scored 31 unanswered second-half points to bank a 46-7 win.
Their pack put Star under plenty of pressure, especially at scrum time before Star were able to bring tighthead prop Nico Manaena off the bench.
Star also struggled to contain the Blues maul with them picking up a penalty try from a lineout drive which ended up with wing Fale Iosefa shown a yellow card in the first half.
The Blues backline, through the likes of centre Kalani Elder and fullback Brad Kooman, were also ruthless on any counterattack options that eventuated.
For Star, Stags hooker Greg Pleasants-Tate, playing at No 8, probably provided their biggest attacking threat with ball in hand, while lock Lachlan Springford impressed with his workrate.
Star’s next assignment will be against Midlands as both teams will look to register win No 1 for 2022.