Māruawai/Menzies College First XV still have plenty to play for as their season comes to a climax.
They take on Cromwell College at Edendale in what is the semifinal for the teams finishing in positions 13-16 in the Southern Schools Rugby Championship.
The combined side are in their third year and have gone into the enlarged southern schools championship, which has gone out to 18 teams.
The combined side from Eastern Southland used to play against just Southland sides but with the championship expanding through mainly Otago schools they now play schools right across the southern area, from Invercargill to Oamaru.
So it has been something of a brave new world for the Menzies-Māruawai team.
The team started out in an enlarged second division and won two of their first five games.
But they then shifted down to the smaller and new third division where they had four wins from five games.
They beat Cromwell 21-15, John McGlashan College second XV 28-24, lost 8-7 to Central Southland College, beat Taieri College second XV 5-3 and then defeated Mount Aspiring College 22-8 on Saturday.
That has led to Māruawai/Menzies hosting the Cromwell College side on Saturday at Edendale. The team will be looking to start quickly and get ahead of a Cromwell side who had a good win over the John McGlashan second XV last Saturday.
Three players, Jayden Broome, Luke Bryson and Kody Crump, will be leading the way, having played 30 games for the combined side in three seasons.
The other semifinal is between Mount Aspiring College and Central Southland College.
The final is to be played on August 17.
