The Clutha Steamers solidified their position at the top of the Southern Region premier competition on Saturday with a 28-17 win over Toko to remain unbeaten and lock away the South Otago banner and Springbok Horns for the season.
Toko opened the scoring with a penalty to Jared Hayes before the visitors hit their straps with three tries to enter the break 17-3 ahead.
Toko started the second half well with a try before Clutha took control again.
While their defensive line was strong, Toko were forced into giving away two penalties handy to the posts, which Clutha converted.
A final try by the visitors extended their advantage before Toko managed to grab one back on fulltime.
Heriot kept in touch with the top four with a 34-32 win over Crescent at Heriot.
The first half was evenly matched as both sides scored some nice tries but also gave up possession in crucial areas of the field.
Neither side could gain the territorial advantage with the majority of the half played in the middle areas of the field.
Crescent led 19-17 at the break, and after the teams traded penalties at the start of the second half, Crescent extended their lead with a try to flanker Andy Carruthers.
Heriot refused to let Crescent get away from them and hit back with another well-worked try.
With less than 10 minutes remaining, Kairus Booth slotted a penalty to give Crescent a 32-27 lead, but Crescent’s discipline began to let them down.
Crescent first five Clayton Cochrane suffered a serious knee injury, and the referee stopped the game while he was attended to and removed from the field.
From the restart, Heriot scored the match-winning try, much to the delight of the bumper crowd in attendance.
West Taieri capped off their 125th jubilee celebrations with a convincing 51-7 win over Clutha Valley to retain the McIntosh Cup and Holmes Milk Can.
West Taieri’s forward pack carried with purpose and kept Valley’s defence on the back foot.
Early injuries for Valley did not help with their cohesion, but they were up against a switched-on West Taieri side who ran in nine tries in front of a massive home crowd.
West Taieri’s pack was led by hooker Bug Tisdall, who scored a brace of tries in his 200th game for his side. Jake Hamer ran the cutter well and set up numerous tries.
Owaka recorded their first win of the season, beating Lawrence 25-20 at Swamp Hen Park.
The first half was sloppy from both sides. Lawrence held a 15-7 lead at the break.
The only real highlight of the first half was a 40m drop goal from front-rower turned midfielder Sam Wyber.
Owaka lost No 8 Liuliu Pasina to a red card in the second half, and with the man disadvantage, Owaka played their best footy, scoring two tries and dominating play.
Lawrence finished well but could not catch up.
— Francis Parker
