Rugby: One-way traffic for unstoppable Southern

Southern's Ricky Riccitelli is tackled by Kaikorai's Pita Sinamoni during their match at...
Southern's Ricky Riccitelli is tackled by Kaikorai's Pita Sinamoni during their match at Bishopscourt on Saturday. Photo by Gregor Richardson.
Southern and Taieri opened the Dunedin premier club season with big wins on Saturday.

Southern monstered Kaikorai 54-0 in a game which one might have expected to be a more even contest.

But Taieri did not have it all its own way, despite its 68-6 demolition of Pirates, which actually did well in the set pieces and even had scrum dominance.

Zingari-Richmond was too strong up front for Green Island, winning 48-18, while University A dispatched Alhambra-Union 45-17.

Dunedin needed a late converted try to seal a tense 20-19 win over Harbour in the game of the round.

Southern's Ryan Tongia and Zingari-Richmond's Inoke Naivaluleva each grabbed three tries on the opening day of the season.

Southern 54
Kaikorai 0

Highlanders outside back Ryan Tongia scored three tries in Southern's romp against Kaikorai at Bishopscourt.

Playing at fullback, Tongia brushed aside would-be tacklers seemingly at will and dotted down twice in the first half.

No 8 Mika Mafi had a storming game, rampaging the ball up-field. But the tone was set up front, with veteran prop Warren Moffat and hooker Ricky Riccitelli having strong games.

Southern first five-eighth Ben Patston was deadly with the boot, knocking over three penalties and three conversions, and Otago midfielder Tei Walden nabbed two tries, one of which came from a wonderful fend.

Kaikorai's best period of play came in the 20 minutes after the break. But it struggled to get a reasonable share of possession and was comprehensively outplayed in all facets of the game.

Taieri 68
Pirates 6

The one-sided scoreline suggested defending champion Taieri dispatched Pirates with minimal fuss at Peter Johnstone Park.

The reality is Pirates put in a solid performance and the score blowout was not a fair reflection of the match. Pirates actually dominated the scrums and did well in the set plays.

But Taieri capitalised on some good fortune and through individual brilliance amassed a very comfortable victory in what was a scrappy game.

Perhaps the play towards the end of the first half summed up the game best. Pirates was defending and had an opportunity to clear the ball. But halfback Will Cosgriff charged the ball down and Hayden Parker scored under the posts. That allowed Taieri to go into the break leading 26-6.

Parker bagged two tries and kicked seven conversions for a haul of 24 points.

Dunedin 20
Harbour 19

This was billed as the match of the round but apart from a tense and exciting finish it failed to deliver.

Dunedin looked the stronger side in the first half and scored two late tries to deservedly be in front at halftime. The first was a superb effort from Trent Renata, who ran a clearing kick in from 60m and beat five players in the process with extreme pace.

Harbour had led early when, down to 14 men with halfback Tali Fagasoaia in the bin, the acting halfback scooted 70m from a scrum and set up a try to the evergreen Hale T-Pole.

The Dunedin scrum was looking ominous and destroyed Harbour on a few occasions. But Harbour was dangerous on the breakout and led with 15 minutes to go, with tries to winger Sefo Muasika and replacement prop Sione Misiloi.

Dunedin finally stopped making errors and camped in the Harbour 22m with a series of penalties and scrums. With two minutes to play, midfielder Callum Bruce muscled into a ruck and over the line. Greg Dyer converted for the win.

Alex Fitzgerald was tigerish over the ball for Dunedin. Lock Alex Ainley was a rock and Donald Brighouse and Brendan Eathorne were powerful up front, while Bruce and Renata were the best of the backs.

For Harbour, fullback Logan Allen was safe and sharp on the break, and winger Muasika was electric out wide. Charles Elton and T-Pole battled away up front.

Zingari-Richmond 48
Green Island 18

A dominant performance from the forward pack and a hat trick for Inoke Naivaluleva set Zingari-Richmond up for a commanding win at Miller Park.

Affectionately tagged ''Crazy Feet'', Naivaluleva scored his first two tries through an overlap, and his third resulted from sheer brilliance and pace. Running back on defence, Naivaluleva pirouetted as he caught the ball on the full, sidestepped three Green Island players and sprinted 70m to dive over in the corner.

His haul complemented the superb workload put in by the Zingari-Richmond forward pack, particularly lock Tom Rowe, No 8 Chris Bell and front-rowers Chris Preddy, Stu Young and Masiu Akauloa. Young had set the second half alight after just 47sec with a 30m run to score in the corner.

The dominance of the forward pack provided an ideal introduction into premier rugby for promising Zingari first five-eighth Thomas Johnson.

Green Island looked fit and had a high percentage of territory and possession, but let itself down with an excessive error rate.

University A 45
Alhambra-Union 17

The University A pack set the platform for an impressive win over Alhambra-Union at the University Oval.

The front row of Callum Hardie, Sam Sturgess and Angus Williams dominated the scrums and made ground with the pick and go.

The turning point of the game came after 21 minutes when the aggressive University forwards pounded toward the line and halfback Kaide Whiting used his strength to crash over for a try.

Openside flanker Sam Wallace scored two tries to give University a healthy 33-0 lead at the break.

His second try was rather bizarre. Alhambra-Union took a quick throw on its own 22m and the ever-alert Wallace ran up fast, caught the ball and scored.

The other key player for University was first five-eighth Stephen Fenemor, who kicked nine goals from 11 attempts to score 20 points.

The best Alhambra-Union players were second five-eighth Tili Polka and first five-eighth Sam Ellis, who kicked three goals from three attempts.

 

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