After conceding a half-century of points in its previous outing, Matakanui Combined scored 50 itself in demolishing Arrowtown 50-29 in the Central Otago premier competition at Omakau on Saturday.
Two American players who had been in New Zealand for less than a fortnight, fullback John Reilly and blindside flanker Jordan Moser, contributed mightily to the Mudfish’s performance.
Reilly scored two tries as Matakanui Combined bolted away to a 33-0 lead before a stunned Arrowtown team staged something of a comeback, scoring five tries in the second half. But it was too little, too late.
Matakanui Combined coach Cory Crosbie said his team was down to just eight backs when the SOS went out to the Americans.
"With our backline ranks depleted we were leaking tries, so picking up a playmaking back like Reilly was a godsend," Crosbie said, the team conceding 64 points to Upper Clutha, 78 to Alexandra and 60 to Wakatipu.
But it was a different story on Saturday, to the delight of the team’s faithful fans.
First five Jesse Porter contributed 20 points while other major contributors to the victory were hooker Elliott Miller, who was named man of the match, and No8 Dean Sinnamon.
A guide to how much Matakanui Combined has improved will come next weekend when it tackles the unbeaten competition leader Upper Clutha, which has opened up an 11-point lead after walloping Alexandra 40-7 at Wanaka on Saturday.
Alexandra kept Wakatipu tryless the previous weekend but within three minutes of kick-off on Saturday, Upper Clutha had its first try and was out of sight at 28-0 by halftime.
It was nearly 35-0 but captain Lachlan Garrick, who gave a man-of-the-match performance, had the ball knocked from his grasp after crossing the goal-line and began zeroing in on the goalposts.
Such was the quality of Upper Clutha’s performance on Saturday it is hard to see any team stopping the men from Wanaka in the sprint to the finish.
Once again there were standout performances from Garrick, No Reece White, flanker Sonny Gibbard, first five Brady Kingan, fullback Reuben Barnett and flying winger Adam Breen, who made a timely return from injury.
In a major upset, Cromwell suffered its third defeat in four outings, beaten 22-17 by Maniototo, a team it hammered 50-17 earlier in the season.
Cromwell, powerful in the scrum, led 12-3 at halftime but managed just a solitary try in the second half while Maniototo scored three five-pointers, the match-winner by winger Harry Connor coming in the 79th minute.
It was the first time Maniototo had won at Anderson Park since 2017.
Its man of the match was halfback Matt Horne while a massive contribution also came from veteran centre Quentin Smith.
— Bob Howitt
