Reigning champions Clutha have retained the South Otago Banner, Springbok Horns, Art Bloxham Cup, Speight’s Jug and McIntosh Cup for another season after their impressive 50-21 win over Owaka at the Balclutha Showgrounds.
The first half was a high-scoring affair with both sides making the most of defensive frailties.
Clutha scored two early tries to set the tone before Owaka fought their way back into the half and finally made possession and territory count.
Despite Clutha’s field position dominance, Owaka still managed to fight their way into their red zone and convert a couple of chances towards the end of the half.
Clutha went into halftime 33-21 ahead.
The early phases of the second half belonged to the visitors, who had the wood on Clutha up front and after a dominant scrum led to an injury to a Clutha front-rower, the game had to switch fields.
Once Clutha found their rhythm again, they extended the score.
The final stages descended into chaos with several yellow cards and a red, but Clutha were deserved winners.
Toko have one foot in the semifinals after a hard-fought 34-29 win over Clutha Valley.
Toko were the stronger side in the first half and made their dominance count on the scoreboard.
Led by first five Jared Hayes, the home side found themselves in the right areas of the field and made Valley pay for lapses in concentration.
The second half featured a completely different Valley team who dominated the physical exchanges and made plenty of easy metres with ball in hand.
Scores were locked at 24-24 late in the game before Toko slotted a couple of crucial penalties and added a try to extend the lead.
Valley hit back to make the score 34-29 with seconds remaining.
They mounted one last attack and looked to have had a try awarded at the death only for it to be ruled held up.
Heriot retained the West Otago Shield and more importantly locked away five competition points with a 30-15 win over Lawrence at Simpson Park.
The first half was a tussle with Lawrence the more dominant in the collision and with ball in hand.
The home side pressured Heriot into making mistakes but could not quite capitalise on this, and Heriot took their chances to lead 17-15 at the break.
Heriot kept Lawrence scoreless in the second half and found their structure to score the bonus-point try and seal the win late in the game.
Crescent beat Clinton 71-7 in another tough day for the Clinton side.
Crescent scored 11 tries and earned maximum points in their semifinal push.
By Francis Parker
