League: Dunedin teams all lose

Ben Loughrey-Webb
Ben Loughrey-Webb
It was a bad start for all three teams from Dunedin when they were beaten by their southern counterparts in the opening round of the Otago/Southland competition in Invercargill and Queenstown on Saturday.

The South Pacific Raiders went down to Invercargill City 26-24, despite Raiders standoff Jonnie Hughes scoring three tries and kicking all four conversions.

The game was played in miserable conditions, on a boggy pitch, and both teams struggled to hold on to the ball and complete their sets.

The scores were locked up 12-12 at halftime, with Hughes and centre Jermaine Stone scoring tries for the Raiders.

Hughes completed his hat trick and the Raiders held a 24-22 lead with two minutes to go before City scored to take the match.

University was beaten 51-28 by Bluff iat Centrepoint. Both sides played a high-paced game and showed a willingness to spread the ball.

University trailed 24-18 at halftime with tries from fullback Grant Milne and second-rower Jacob Birch (2).

Second-half tries to University wing Ben Loughrey-Webb and centre Matt Wainwright kept their side in the game, but it was Bluff that piled on the points in the final 10 minutes to run out the winner.

University halfback Antony Stadnyk and Loughrey-Webb were both making comebacks from injury and had fine all-round games.Stadnyk was also successful in four from five conversion attempts.

A fine display of finesse and skill by the Kia Toa Tigers could not prevent them being beaten 38-26 by the Wakatipu Giants in Queenstown.

The Tigers played some entertaining league, with winger Miller White (2), lock Shane Unahi, standoff Ryan Tapsell, halfback Joel Taniora and prop Koben Katipa all scoring tries and having fine games.

But the Giants converted pressure into points more often than the Tigers.

 

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