The Barbarians had to work hard to beat Marist 34-27 at Miller Street in Invercargill.
Marist were fired up in front of a big crowd for ‘‘Marist Remembrance Day’’ and started the game best to earn a handy 27-15 lead at halftime.
Coach AJ Aitken said the Barbarians’ effort in the second half was outstanding.
‘‘The boys got into their work and started to roll forward. The Marist team were gritty and didn’t go away.’’
Aitken said openside flanker Ben Hill was outstanding again.
‘‘He was even better than last week.’’
Taylor Peterson carried on his good form, scoring one of his team’s five tries and adding three conversions and a penalty.
Prop Morgan Mitchell put in his usual high quality performance, while Liam Ferguson scored another try on Saturday when playing at loosehead prop for 80 minutes.
Veteran Lachie McCall also got through 80 minutes at hooker and blindside flanker.
Aitken said his team played a bit like last week, when they ground out a 13-6 win over Star.
‘‘We were sleepy to start and weren’t willing to do the grunt work. We have got to front up each week from the start or we are going to come unstuck soon if we keep this up.’’
Marist’s best players were hooker Joseva Turaganivalu, second five Alex Meulenbroek and openside Xavier Wright.
Aitken said his club loved playing against Marist.
‘‘They always have great supporters at their games in town and when they travel.’’
Pirates Old Boys beat Star 36-17 at Waverley Park.
A converted try to POB lock Anton Schroder opened the scoring after 20 minutes. Star right winger Kasseus Henry scored out wide after 28 minutes but Star soon lost a man to a yellow card.
POB first five Greg Dyer sliced through the defence to score seven points after 30 minutes and prop Thomas Jennings stretched out for a good team try soon after.
Dyer was relishing the front-foot ball and set up the next try for Sammy McLachlan to make the score 26-5 at halftime.
Star scored the first try in the second half and the last try of the game but the visitors also added points in between when prop Levi Gage barged over under the posts and Dyer kicked a conversion and a penalty.
It was a much-improved effort from Star, who had lost their first round encounter with POB 59-0.
Woodlands had a 33-26 victory at home over Invercargill Blues.
- John Langford
