NORTH OTAGO
By Terry O'Neill

Kurow is the only unbeaten side in the premier grade rugby top four playoffs after beating St Kevin's A 27-22 at the Hine Marae courts on Saturday.

It was a slow game with Kurow leading 4-2 at quarter time and 11-8 at halftime. Both teams took time to settle with St Kevin's A making a lot of changes before the South Island Secondary schools netball tournament this week.

Kurow produced a strong full court defence. Vicki Laughton at goal defence was in outstanding form, taking some spectacular interceptions.

Kurow will meet Athletic Maroon in the final round of qualifying next Saturday.

• Excelsior, which lost 16-39 to Kurow a week ago, came back to beat Athletic Maroon in a tightly fought game. It was all tied up at 9-9 at halftime with both teams tight on defence.

Excelsior struggled a little in the third quarter when Athletic Maroon applied the pressure but held on for an 18-17 win.

• In the bottom four play-offs, Eastern A is the only unbeaten side. The more experienced Eastern downed Waitaki Girls' Lightning Strike 26-17 after leading 15-8 at halftime.

• Waitaki Girls' Wildfire beat St Kevin's B 36-14, with St Kevin's trying different combinations at the defence end. Both teams were guilty of a lot of turnovers with Waitaki having a stronger attack end.

Rugby
The North Otago Development XV frittered away a 17-3 halftime lead before losing 29-30 to its South Canterbury counterparts.

Prop Jamie Townsend opened the scoring for North Otago in the sixth minute with an unconverted try. The opposition first five-eighth Hamish Strachan kicked a penalty four minutes later but tries to fullback Chris Talanoa and winger Ofa Fatai, one of which was converted by Mark Roney, gave the home side its halftime lead.

A Strachan penalty opened the scoring in the second half and South Canterbury took the lead with tries to Sam Bland and Latu Felise, both converted, to put the visitors in front 20-17.

North Otago centre Steve Smith charged down a clearing kick to put North Otago back in front 24-20 with Roney's conversion. A try to Jason Cooney, converted by Strachan, snatched the lead back at 27-24 before Talanoa went in for his second try to give the home side a 29-27 lead.

Two minutes from fulltime, replacement five-eighth Tristram Johnston kicked a penalty to give South Canterbury its 30-29 victory.

Hockey
Tainui won the Plate final in Timaru on Saturday, beating the Tinwald Tigers 4-2, with Isaac Wylie, Jarod Ovens, Lance Sheehy and Shaun Cunningham scoring for Tainui.

• The St Kevin's mixed team beat the under-13 Boys 3-1, with Hannah Caldwell scoring twice for St Kevin's.

• The North Otago girls under-13 side produced a great effort to draw 2-2 with Waitaki Girls' 2nd XI. Brianna Turner and Mikayla Scarlet scored for the under 13 side.

• Shamrocks repelled the challenge of Pirata Black with a 3-1 win, with Andrea Naylor scoring twice for the winners.

• St Kevin's Girls First XI drew with Waitaki Boys' Second XI 4-4, with Charlie Bower scoring twice for the boys and Sam Robins getting a brace for St Kevin's.

• Waitaki Girls' First XI lost 2-4 to Roncalli College in its final in Timaru on Saturday.

Indoor bowls
The Strachan family - Wally, Gavin, Bevan and Diane - won the Image Promotions tournament on Friday night with a 9-2 win over Bill Mitchell's four.

SOUTH OTAGO
- Norman Woods

Otago B had to pull out all the stops to hold out Otago Country at the Balclutha Showgrounds on Saturday.

Otago B led 13-3 at halftime, but Country with the wind at its backs, lifted its game and finally went down 25-19.

Otago B made a grand start with Paul Grant scoring a try in the opening minute, and a second try soon after. Tony Fenner then added a penalty to give Otago B a 13-0 lead.

Country came back with winger Tyler Bichan scoring a good try to narrow the gap to 13-5 at halftime.

In the second spell, Country came back strongly when replacement Josh Beer was on hand to dot down handy to the posts. Sam Young converted and closed the gap to 13-12.

Otago B went further, with Paul Grant scoring his third try which Fenner converted from wide out into the wind, and Otago B was out to 20-12. Then Sam Giddens scored and put Otago B out to 25-12.

Country was not outdone, however. It came back with a superb passing and handling line for Dan Isefo to score a grand try.

Young converted to make the final score 25-19, this being the closest Otago Country has been to Otago B for many years.

For Otago B, Warren Moffat and Kris Miller were tireless workers in the pack, but the outstanding performance came from Paul Grant. He was everywhere, and his three tries were all thoroughly deserved.

In the backs, Cam Rutherford was steady, while fullback Tony Fenner was enterprising when coming into the line.

For Otago Country, this was a very good effort, especially in the forwards. Aiden Winter at No 7 was outstanding. He was always first to the loose ball set up play superbly. Dave Kenny and Shaun Tauti were others to shine in the loose.

Daniel Dodds gave a very good performance at lock, but in the backs there were some grand performances.

Firstly from halfback Jamie Brown. He ran well, passed like a veteran, and defended well. Sam Young was steady, but further out, Blake Korteweg had another grand game at centre. Tyler Bichan and Mark Te Whiti were strong runners with the ball in hand.

• In the curtain-raiser, Otago Metro under-16 beat Otago Country under-16 23-19 in a thriller.