The Stags had an interrupted preparation with sickness running through the group, this on top of the long list of injured players.
Halfback Connor Collins has a broken bone in his hand which is the most concerning. He was a key player and might not be back this season.
From the start of the game Southland made handling errors in the wet conditions and Taranaki comfortably racked up a 29-10 halftime lead.
Southland’s usually good lineout malfunctioned as well; the throwing was often off target and pressure from the Taranaki jumpers meant the greasy ball was turned over. The Stags scrum was also going backwards in the first half.
Regular starting props Morgan Mitchell and Jack Sexton came on for the second half and fixed up the scrum but the lineout continued to struggle.
The Stag players made too many individual mistakes and couldn’t put phases together. Loose forwards Dylan Nel and Semisi Tupou-Taeiloa tried hard and centre Isaac Te Tamaki was steady and accurate again.
The Stags’ next assignment is on Friday night against Northland in Whangarei.
To help compare form-lines — Northland lost their Ranfurly Shield challenge to Hawke’s Bay 55-30 last week, while Southland lost their challenge the week prior 31-17.
In other games played last weekend, the Southland Development team lost 33-26 to the Otago Development team in Dunedin.
Star club rugby players Zyon Walters, Hughan Sharp and Kaya Symon were the Southland standouts. Kynan Stowers-Smith impressed in the backline and could be promoted up to the Stags team this week.
Southland’s Development team have their last game of their campaign against Otago Country in Invercargill on Saturday.
Otago Country is in good form after beating Southland Country 27-5 at Edendale on Saturday. Front rowers Tom Scanlan and Liam Ferguson and halfback Liam Mcfaul were Southland Country’s best on the day.
After the game the local Country team named Rhys Horrell as their forward of the year and Keiran Short as the back of the year. Malcolm McKee was named as a Country Life Member and utility forward Brenton Howden was presented with a blazer jacket for playing more than 15 games.
Southland under-19 was beaten 59-29 by Otago in Dunedin on Saturday.
Southland trailed 19-17 at halftime and was still in the hunt after 60 minutes, but the last 20 minutes belonged to Otago. Southland’s best was midfielder Tayne Harvey.
The game was marred by Josh Augustine breaking his leg and another Southland back getting sent off for 20 minutes for a punch.
The two teams are scheduled to play each other again in Invercargill this Saturday.
Southland Boys’ High School drove up to Nelson for the South Island Secondary School final on Saturday. The defending champions were beaten 47-24 by Nelson College.
Nelson got out to a 14-point lead and Boys’ High did well to gain momentum and level the score. Nelson scored right on halftime to make it 21-14.
The locals dominated the second half to claim the South Island title, and book a place in the national top four tournament. Nelson also took the Moascar Cup from Boys’ High who had successfully defended it through nine challenges since winning it alongside their National Title last year.
- By John Langford
