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Eastern Northern Barbarians and Pirates Old Boys will contest Southland rugby’s Galbraith Shield premier grade club final at the Les George Oval tomorrow at 2.30pm.
The Barbarians earned the minor premiership title by winning nine of their 10 round-robin matches.
The Barbarians were pushed to their limits in their semifinal last week when beating Star 20-10 at the Gore Showgrounds. A nervous first half from the locals had them trailing 7-3 at halftime.
A more composed Barbarians performance will be required tomorrow if they are to lift the shield for the first time since 2016.
The turning point in last week’s game was when the Barbarians won a tighthead scrum on Star’s five-metre line and scored off the back.
Barbarians captain Morgan Mitchell played an exceptional match for his team at tighthead prop. Mitchell plans on retiring from all forms of rugby if his team is successful tomorrow. The popular campaigner has played 82 games for the Southland Stags.
Pirates Old Boys finished the round-robin in second position and played the third qualifier Woodlands in a wet semifinal at Rugby Park in Invercargill last weekend.
Woodlands led 14-7 at halftime and POB required another complete performance from their first five-eighth and captain Greg Dyer to orchestrate the victory.
Woodlands tried to reduce Dyer’s chances to dominate the game but he was clever enough to outplay them. Dyer has now led Pirates-Old Boys to five straight Galbraith Shield finals.
Dyer remains an option to add to his 36 games for the Southland Stags while the province’s two first-choice pivots are on duty with the New Zealand under-20 team.
The Rugby Park field is getting prepared for the national provincial championship, so the final will instead be played on the sand-based field at Les George Oval.
Pirates Old Boys are assured of attracting a large contingent of supporters, their club’s division two team will play their game tomorrow against Otautau-Ohai-Nightcaps at Oreti Park at 12.30pm, allowing them to then support the club’s premier team. A portion of the Barbarians crowd have the option of travelling in from Gore on the supporters bus. — John Langford