How does the next phase work?

Green Island loosehead prop Shane Fikken looks for a way around or through University openside Lochie Mavor during a division 1 club rugby match at Logan Park earlier this month. PHOTO: PETER MCINTOSH

You have got a fox, a chicken, some grain and room for only two of them on the boat at once.

How do you get all three safely to the other side of the river?

Well, the answer is simple.

You divide the nine teams into two pools, play a half round and allocate points for the bye on a pro-rata basis.

Got it? No? Did not think so.

The first round in the Dunedin division 1 grade is nice and simple. Everyone plays each other once.

But the second round gets messy.

The nine teams are divided into two pools based on their rankings from the first round.

The first, third, fifth, seventh and ninth-placed teams are positioned in the odds pool, and the other four teams go into the evens pool.

It is unavoidably a lopsided draw.

The teams in the odds pool will play four games and have one bye.

The sides in the evens pool play five games and have access to more competition points.

To compensate, the teams in the odds pool will be allocated points for the bye based on their finishing position in the pool.

The points from round 1 do not carry over, so that makes the next five weekends quite important.

The highest-placed team in the odds pool will get five points for the bye. The second-placed team will earn four points and so on with the last-placed team allocated one point.

The same process was used last year, except this season the split round has shifted from the start to the end of the competition.

The points for the bye will be awarded at the end of the round-robin phase, so there will be a kind of silent competition table running in the background alongside the main standings.

It is about as clear as America’s exit plan from the war in Iran.

Things would be a lot easier had the clubs elected to play a proper double round.

That option was narrowly defeated in 2024.

The upshot is we have been left with a confusing compromise.

The first week of round 2 has thrown up some interesting clashes.

Kaikorai will host University at Bishopscourt. University edged Kaikorai 34-31 at Logan Park in early April.

The students set the benchmark early but were hammered 55-26 by Taieri last weekend.

Green Island host Southern in a game that is nearly impossible to pick.

The Grizzlies’ form has fluctuated widely. They thumped Southern 62-24 at Bathgate Park in mid-April but were well-beaten 52-24 by a struggling Dunedin side at Miller Park on Saturday, whereas Southern upset University 24-21 in their last outing.

The Dunedin-Harbour game at Kettle Park could have big ramifications. They look like the two sides competing for the final playoff spot.

And the game between Alhambra-Union and Zingari-Richmond at North Ground offers the home side an opportunity to post a maiden win this season and reverse their heartbreaking 36-34 loss to the Colours earlier this month.

Taieri have the bye.

adrian.seconi@odt.co.nz