Marist provided the highlight in round 10 of the Southland senior club competition on Saturday when they beat Woodlands 29-26 at Miller Street.
Marist No 8 Ben Fotheringham signalled he was about to play another high-quality game when he scored after five minutes.
Prop Joe Turaganivalu scored after 16 minutes, and Marist coach Derek Manson said it felt like his side was winning the arm-wrestle but a couple of long-range tries from Woodlands had the scores level at 12-12 at halftime.
Marist hooker James Moodie was playing well and scored a converted try to make it 19-19 after 60 minutes.
Woodlands went ahead 26-19 before Scott Eade kicked a critical penalty goal for Marist.
Man of the match Hunter Burgess scored the game-winning try in the 80th minute.
Burgess’s locking partner, Max Bryant, also played his best game of the year, and openside Jackson Bevin put in his usual quality effort.
The Eastern Northern Barbarians beat the Invercargill Blues 33-26 on their sponsors’ day at the Gore Showgrounds.
Blues scored the first converted try, but the locals settled into their work and led 21-7 at halftime.
Baabaas coach AJ Aitken felt like his side were ready to get out of their rut this week.
"Things have been clicking at practice, so it was reassuring to get the win. I felt like we controlled everything in the first half. We were more disciplined this week and physical."
The Barbarians spoke at halftime about not letting Blues back into the game, but after trailing 33-7 after 65 minutes, Blues found some holes on the edges and scored some nice tries to earn two bonus points.
Angus Simmers was man of the match, while fellow midfielder Vitali Roqica put in some big defensive shots.
Prop Troy McIvor played well, and regular front-rower Morgy Mitchell slotted into No 8 and did a fine job.
First five Riley Stewart deserved a mention for his effort, as did prop Tom Scanlan in his 50th game and Harry McKenzie for making his debut for the club.
Pirates Old Boys celebrated their 25th anniversary at the weekend and the premier team beat Star 42-0 in the main event at Surrey Park.
POB scored tries out wide to winger Sam Wheely and blindside Ben Keenan, and both were converted by Kaea Nikora-Balloch during the first 17 minutes.
Right winger Isaac Rounds scored the next try after 26 minutes and POB held a 19-point lead through to halftime.
Nikora-Balloch kicked a penalty goal after the break, but it took until the 68th minute for POB to score their fourth try, to hooker Alex Fraito from an excellent lineout drive.
Young Shaun Kempton intercepted a pass to score and followed that up with his second try out wide. Halfback Kane O’Connor scored the seventh try on fulltime.
— John Langford
