CENTRAL OTAGO
- Rhys Chamberlain
Upper Clutha secured a solid 17-6 win over Clyde-Earnscleugh in Wanaka on Saturday.
The home side scored three tries, two to fullback Ben Purvis and one to wing Phil Cochrane.
Rife with injury and sickness, the visiting side could manage only two penalty goals to halfback Jai Baxter.
Cochrane had a huge game for Upper Clutha, while hooker Reuben O'Connell continued his impressive form for Clyde-Earnscleugh.
• Arrowtown retained the White Horse Cup after beating Matakanui Combined 23-17 at Jack Reid Park.
Arrowtown dominated the first half with a try in the opening minutes and then two more, one to blindside Dan Iosefo and one to captain Aidan Winter who re-gathered a mistake at the back to run 20m.
Fullback Kane Dodds, one of Arrowtown's best players in the match, added two penalties and a conversion in the first half. Matakanui managed a try in the first half, a close-range crash-over from No 8 Andrew Paterson. At halftime the home side led 23-7.
Then the momentum changed and Arrowtown was starved of possession and territory. Matakanui scored two more tries, both to hooker Ben Naylor, to outscore the home side by 10 points in the half. That was how the game ended however, Arrowtown holding on to keep the cup and gain needed competition points.
Dodds, who made two crucial covering tackles, was Arrowtown's man of the match, while openside flanker James Trew had a huge work rate for Matakanui.
Charlie Hore was again a key figure, scoring two tries and kicking two penalties, while prop Tim O'Neill, loosies Matt Towers and Scott Sharpin and first five-eighth Thomas Huddleston were also rewarded with tries.
Cromwell managed three tries. Openside flanker Brad Nicholson scored in the first half and Oki Coles and Sam Gibbens managed consolation tries in the second.
Nigel A'Court had a man-of-the-match performance at openside for Maniototo while Luke Stevenson was prominent with the boot for the home side.
• In Queenstown, Wakatipu had an excellent win over an up-and-coming Alexandra 32-7.
The Wakatipu forward pack had a strong game, enabling its backs to score five tries. Danny King at first five-eighth and Matt Somerville at second five-eighth combined to each score a double while replacement mid-fielder Andy Baxter also crossed. King controlled the tempo well.
Wakatipu put up a huge defensive effort as Alexandra had possession for long periods.
Alexandra's Kevin O'Neill had a big game, the flanker-turned-second five-eighth making a lot of play.
Netball
Dunstan High School A and Cromwell College A played a thriller in the second round of Central Otago premier netball.
The physicality took its toll on some players. In the end Dunstan High School prevailed 46-42.
• In the other premier match, Molyneux A was too good for Roxburgh Kilties, winning 50-38.
Hockey
The first round of matches in the senior men's competition was played, with Cromwell beating the Under-18 side 4-2.
• The other senior match, between Cavaliers and Queenstown, was a blowout, Queenstown hammering Cavaliers 10-0.
• In senior women's matches, Upper Clutha had a good win over Maniototo 4-1, while Cromwell beat Queenstown 5-1. Alexandra beat Wakatipu 4-0.
Bowls
The annual Fairfield versus Wanaka match for the Munro Cup was played on Saturday at the Wanaka Bowling Club with the home side winning.
Wanaka also beat Clyde in the interclub triples on May 16.
NORTH OTAGO
- Terry O'Neill
Kurow produced its best effort of the season against Athletic in Oamaru on Saturday, but after leading 15-14 five minutes into the second half went down 31-20.
Valley was too strong for Excelsior, surviving a second-half comeback from Excelsior for a 43-22 win. Unbeaten Old Boys led Maheno 32-3 at halftime and continued to dominate in the second half to win 46-3.
• Kurow dominated the forward exchanges but did not have the finishing power to profit from its possession. It produced some powerful mauling and pick and go, but it was from one such move that it lost control and Athletics midfielder Pio Tuitavake scooped up the loose ball to score. Rob Payne converted.
Seven minutes later Kurow drove inside the opposition 22 and created space for right winger Dan Russell to score.
Midway through the spell Athletic's No 8, Tevita Fifita, barged over for Payne to convert. Seven minutes from halftime, Kurow drove from a lineout close to the Athletic line and impressive No 8 Warwick Nel touched down to make it 14-10 at halftime.
Five minutes into the second half Nel crossed from a tap penalty to give Kurow a 15-14 lead, but Athletic hit back when halfback Sione Moala took advantage of a Kurow handling error to score wide out. Five minutes later a Kurow clearing kick was charged down and Athletic centre Nova Saone scored. Payne again converted.
Five minutes from fulltime replacement lock Aisake Fonua scored and on fulltime Kurow's prop, Gareth Isbister, drove over for an unconverted try.
• At the Maheno Domain, it was the Lemi Masoe show as the Old Boys' three-quarter scored four tries in his team's 46-3 win.
Old Boys raced out to a 10-0 lead after seven minutes with a try to Kilifi Fangupo. Ben Patston converted and added a penalty.
Four minutes later Maheno centre Chris Kirsten kicked a penalty, but from there on in it was all Old Boys'. Masoe touched down in the 15th, 21st, and 25th minutes, Patston converting one, and near halftime left winger Una Ofa scored to give Old Boys' a 32-3 lead.
In the second half, Masoe scored his fourth try in the 43rd minute and winger Omega Masoe added the final try. Patston converted both.
• Valley, at Weston Park, had the game all tied up at halftime, leading 29-5. Its locks, Aaron McKay and Eric Duff, both scored tries in the first quarter. In the second quarter, left winger Craig Kingan scored two tries and Hamish McKenzie one, with Mark Roney converting two of them before Excelsior got on the board with an unconverted Willie Nehoff try.
Excelsior struck early in the second half with a Jason Forrest penalty and a Richard Wilson try, which Forrest converted, to make it 29-15. Valley centre Hamish Clare and second five-eighth Nick Webster scored and Roney converted on fulltime. Matt Pearson scored for Excelsior and Forrest converted.
Football
Meadowbank United retained its spot at the top of the South Canterbury league's first division with a 10-1 win over Timaru City A at the Oamaru Showgrounds on Saturday.
Meadowbank led 4-1 at halftime with goals to Mitchell Greaney and Andy Lane, while Adam McFarlane put Timaru City A on the board in the 10th minute.
In the second half Lane added four further goals with help from Keith Roach and Marc McGregor.
• Awamoa United lifted its game with Reece Curle and James McFelin scoring in its 2-2 draw with Thistle A in Timaru.
• In the second division, Meadowbank United beat Timaru City B 5-2. Logan van Rooy, Sefan Stoler and Carl Burke scored first-half goals with Mohammed Hussain and Hadley Johns scoring for Timaru City.
In the second spell, van Rooy got his second and Timaru City helped out with an own goal.
Netball
The first grading day was held on Saturday with players relishing the newly laid surface at the Oamaru courts.
In the premier grade, all teams played two games. Athletic Maroon, Excelsior, St Kevin's A and St Kevin's B were unbeaten.
Athletic Maroon beat St Kevin's Int A (23-16) and Waitaki Girls' Wildfire (20-15); Excelsior beat Eastern A (11-10) and Waitaki Girls' Lightning (13-10); St Kevin's A beat Valley Gold (14-5) and Eastern A (17-10); St Kevin's B downed Waitaki Girls' Lightning (9-6) and St Kevin's Int A (16-15).
Hockey
Gareth Scheiving and Andrea Naylor scored two goals each as Shamrocks upset Waitaki Boys' 2nd XI 5-2 on Saturday.
Lyn Rowland and Aaron Simpson had doubles as Pirata Black beat St Kevin's Mixed 5-2, while goals to Sara Flannery and Stacey Hore enabled St Kevin's 1st XI to draw 2-2 with Pirata Blue. Kim Armstrong scored Pirata's goals.
SOUTH OTAGO
- Norman Woods
Lawrence continued on its winning way when it proved too good for Crescent, winning by 42-8, after leading 15-5 at halftime.
For Lawrence, Sam Young, at first five, was outstanding, while Bronson Tumai again demonstrated his pace with a hat trick of tries.
Damian Green scored all Crescent's points.
Lawrence holds a five-point lead from Clutha at this stage of the competition.
• At Balclutha showgrounds, Clutha, after being held to 7-all at halftime, lifted its game to win 36-19. The pace of its backs was key, with some fine tries scored.
Toko went into an early lead when No 8 Joeli Kotobalavu was on hand to score and Bradley Frost converted. Toko continued to apply pressure, and it was not until late in the spell when Clutha flanker Kurt Turnbull crashed across the line, and when Irish five eighth Connor Lavery, on debut, converted, the scores were level at halftime.
The second spell looked as though it was going to be the same as the first, but Turnbull was across the line again soon after the break, Lavery again converted and Clutha was out to a 14-7 lead. Clutha winger Tyler Bichan ran 50m and scored under the bar, Lavery converted and Clutha led 21-7.
Toko came back with a good try to lock Brendon Sheath. Lavery put Clutha further ahead with another penalty, and at 24-12, it lifted the pace a notch.
Firstly, Blake Korteweg scored and converted, then came the try of the game, when winger Jayden Stoop scored after starting his run 60m out.
Toko had the last say, when winger Joe Tewao scored a try from 30m out.
In the backs, Jayden Sttop was outstanding, as was Tyler Bichan. Lavery gave a steady display at first five. In the forwards, Kurt Turnbull had a fine game.
For Toko, in the forwards Simon Scott, Matt Lyons and Tim Howie made a powerful front row.
• At Clydevale, Clutha Valley charged back to form with a 55-5 win over Owaka. Clutha Valley ran in nine tries, with Josh Botting and Dusty Wallis scoring two each.
Valley forwards dominated the game, and were well led by Dusty Wallis in the loose. Lock Pete Jamieson was again impressive, also scoring his second try in his last two games.
• In a thriller at Clinton, Heriot held out Clinton to win 22-21. Heriot led 17-10 at halftime, and had to withhold a strong second half from Clinton.
For Heriot, Nathan Park (flanker) and Fraser Fletcher at No 8 had strong games. Clinton tried hard, but three converted tries was not quite enough for victory. Cody Cowley was the pick of Clinton's backs and prop Hamish McGregor had a solid game, moving later in the match to lock. He continues to impress.
