Southland premier club rugby grade teams played their 10th and final round-robin matches on Saturday.
Woodlands beat Marist 66-22 in the feature match at Rugby Park.
Marist were aiming to earn their second upset win in a row after showing plenty of grit in their 15-14 victory over Star last weekend. Instead, Marist was blown off the park by Woodlands who cruised through to a 47-5 lead at half time.
Southland Stag and New Zealand Sevens player Fletcher Morgan played his first Southland club rugby game of the year. Fletcher lined up at second five-eighth and scored two of Woodlands 10 tries and converted seven of them. Right wing Justin Shaw also scored two tries and landed one conversion.
Woodlands loose forward Caleb Karangaroa was back from injury to captain the team from No 8 on Saturday.
By the end of the game Marist had managed to score four tries, one to their best player on the day — blindside flanker Luka Cassidy. Halfback Jordan O’Connell and centre Mike Moodie also played well and were rewarded with tries.
Jason Rutledge was playing his 300th game for Woodlands. The 48-year-old hooker also had his son Gregor playing alongside him on the openside flank as they celebrated the special milestone. Jason’s second son Sabin was in his customary role for the team as the kicking tee-boy.
Gregor generally plays his club rugby for Kaikorai, while he is in Dunedin studying. Gregor has also been included in the Southland Stags squad for this year’s National Provincial Championship.
Jason debuted for Woodlands in 1999 and last season he helped Woodlands win the Galbraith Shield for the 11th time in his career. Jason also represented the Highlanders 59 times and Southland in 143 matches.
Eastern Northern Barbarians beat Star 47-19 at Oreti Park. These two teams will be playing each other again this Saturday in a semifinal match at Riversdale.
Left wing Bunuve Dretiverata scored the first three of the Barbarians seven tries.
Star were acknowledging lock Josh Bekhuis on Saturday for playing over a 100 games for the club, and also their props Keflar Morrison and Cordell Prescott and loose forwards Dylan Lovett and Zyon Walters for playing over 50 games each.
Bekhuis, 40, joined Star in 2005 and according to the club's records has played 133 games and played a part in four Galbraith Shield winning seasons for Star.
Bekhuis also played 144 times for the Southland Stags and Super Rugby for the Highlanders and Blues. He also had a stint in Japan playing for the Honda club.
Invercargill Blues and Pirates Old Boys also avoided the mud on Saturday and played their match on the sand based grounds at Oreti Park.
Blues were playing their final game of the season and were out to earn their second win and possibly overtake Marist on the competition points table. That scenario never looked likely as POB led 21-0 at halftime.
Pirates Old Boys had racked up 47 unanswered points by fulltime. Right wing Isaac Rounds enjoyed the perfect playing conditions and scored the first and last tries of the match.
Pirates Old Boys finished second on the competition points table and will take on Woodlands in a semifinal at Rugby Park on Saturday.
The division one, two and three competitions still have two more weeks of round-robin games to play before semifinals. The women’s competition also has two more rounds to play before their semifinals.
Results
Division 1: Pioneer 22 Riverton 20. Wyndham 29 Edendale 23. Waikaka Riversdale Vikings 46 Tokanui 12. Waikiwi 52 Albion 12.
Division 2: Midlands 80 Pirates Old Boys B 0. Mossburn 27 Central Pirates 14. Star B 34 Te Anau 27. Woodlands B 58 Ohai Nightcaps Otautau 40.
Division 3: Marist B 90 Wrights Bush 5. Drummond Limehills Star 60 Blues B 7. Wakatipu B 39 Bluff 31. Waiau Star 27 Collegiate 7.
Women: Wakatipu 37 Blues 32. Star 32 Pioneer 10. Marist B Bye.
By John Langford