Southland club rugby: Star avoid boil-over against Wyndham

Sunday, 31 March 2019

Pirates-Old Boys player first five-eighth Angus Swale on the charge against Riversdale in the Southland premier club rugby fixture at Surrey Park in Invercargill.

There was a boil-over in the pipeline when Wyndham and Star broke for halftime on Saturday.

Wyndham led a 14-man Star team 20-10 at Wyndham.

Star had shot out to a 10-3 lead early in the game before an intercept try from centre Phillip Norman kicked-started a 17-point run for Wyndham.

Wyndham went into the break 20-10 up against a Star team which the week before toppled Riversdale 70-5.

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Star was also playing with 14 men after lock Jack Capil was shown a red card following an altercation, which resulted in many players from both teams becoming involved, and it carried on for a length of time.

The incident is likely to see Capil - a 2017 and 2018 Stags player - spend some time on the sideline through suspension.

Star quickly became aware it was in a contest and the message at halftime was to be more direct rather than fling the ball from side-to-side.

It went on its own 37-point run in the second half to push out to a 47-20 lead before deservingly Wyndham had the final say scoring late in the game.

Wyndham coach Casey Caldwell, a former Black Fern No 8, was pleased with what her team produced on Saturday.

She said Wyndham had been provided a tough physical test against a big Blues team the week before and she was worried it might have taken the sting out of her team.

Instead Caldwell was delighted with how they responded against Star, in terms of attitude.

Flanker Jaden Walsh, in particular, was immense at the breakdown for Wyndham.

For Star, former Highlanders hooker Greg Pleasants-Tate was a key figure, while No 8 Jordan Stewart also had a strong game.

Caldwell hoped people had taken notice of what some of the Wyndham players can produce against the traditional premier clubs.

'We've got some good young players, this is real good exposure for them. They can show what they can do against players who are supposedly better because they are from premier clubs,' she said.

The Riversdale town folk ought to be proud of their senior rugby players after they produced a gutsy effort against Pirates-Old Boys in Invercargill on Saturday.

Coming of a big loss to Star the week before Riversdale matched Pirates-Old Boys physically and arguably was the better team through the second half.

Pirates-Old Boys got out to a 17-0 lead in the first half which it remained at halftime.

The two teams then scrapped out a scoreless second half with Riversdale getting its hands on plenty of ball but was unable to show enough on attack to break through Pirates Old Boys.

Robert Blatch, traditionally an openside flanker, led the way for Riversdale, while for Pirates-Old Boys fullback Ash McEwing looked the most dangerous from both teams on attack.

Marist yet again sent the alarm bells ringing loudly through the premier competition with the defending Galbraith Shield champions running up an impressive 69-7 victory over 2018 division one finalists Midlands.

Marist led 22-0 at halftime after returning first five-eighth Tane Puki highlighted his skills have not faded completely when he crossed for the first try of the afternoon.

Midlands' challenge in the second half was made that bit difficult with Marist able to roll the explosive Lio Tosi from the bench and he made a mark.

In other premier fixtures on Saturday, Te Anau yet again highlighted it is not daunted by the step up to the premier ranks when it pushed Woodlands in a 27-23 loss, while the Eastern-Northern Barbarians claimed a 29-10 victory over Edendale after leading 22-0 at halftime.

Unfortunately Blues beat Waikaka by default with injuries meaning Waikaka is skinny on numbers at the moment.

RESULTS

Premier

Woodlands 27, Te Anau 23; Eastern-Northern Barbarians 29, Edendale 10; Marist 69, Midlands 7; Star 42, Wyndham 27; Pirates Old Boys 17, Riversdale 0; Blues beat Waikaka by default.

Division One

Star 32, Wakatipu 32; Albion Excelsior 29, Pioneer 27; Mossburn 19, Waiau Star 5; Waikiwi 13, Blues 12;

Division Two

Balfour 96, Collegiate 17; Riverton 29, Wrights Bush 14; Tokanui 30, DLS 29; Mataura 59, Ohai Nightcaps 27; Blues 36, Pirates-Old Boys 24; Woodlands 24, Bluff 22.