The premier club rugby competition got under way in Southland last Thursday night but round 2 was badly disrupted by Omicron on Saturday, two of the three games being cancelled.
The game that was played was between Blues and Midlands at Blues’ grounds in Balmoral Dr in Invercargill.
Blues were the warm favourites for the match and their 43-0 win did not surprise too many.
It had been a challenging week for Blues and his team had seven players unavailable due to Omicron or injury, coach Simon Frisby said.
‘‘We also had a couple of players who came back just in time for the game and we used some of the club’s B players as well’’, Frisby said.
Blues were heavily beaten by Marist in round 1 and needed swift improvement.
Prop Ben Soper and lock Saia Taufu were good in the engine room on Saturday, and loose forwards Billy Andrews and Hayden Michaels also worked well together. No.8 Arese Poliko and halfback Jay Renton had their comeback games from injury and put in an impressive 40 minutes each.
Frisby said the Blues defence was good.
‘‘Our backs used good line speed, especially the 15 minutes before halftime, when Midlands were hard on attack’’.
Blues led by 20 at halftime and stretched the Winton-based team in the second half. Fullback Brad Kooman scored four tries.
Wing Michael Manson injured his hamstring during the game. Manson has played for the New Zealand under 20s and has signed for two years with the Stags.
This is the second week Midlands has been kept scoreless after losing its round 1 match to Woodlands by 50 points.
Frisby said the Midlands B team won the curtain-raiser match, and it was good to see Midlands had plenty of player numbers and good supporters and a women’s team this year.
The Eastern Northern Barbarians v Star match and the Woodlands v Marist match were both unable to be played because too many players were in isolation due to Omicron. Pirates Old Boys had the bye.
The division 1 and 2 competitions began on Saturday. After nine rounds the top four teams in division 1 will contest the Ack Soper Shield semifinals, and the next four teams will contest the Gerald Dermody Shield semifinals.
Last year’s Ack Soper finalist Wyndham and Edendale had another entertaining match to get the season on the way.
Edendale coach Matt Richards set the battle of the bridge as the club’s highlight of each season. Edendale won the game 29-28; No 8 Brad Whyte scored two of Edendale’s four tries in a man-of-the-match performance. Fullback Bevan Wealleans also slotted back into his good form from last year.
Waikaka and Riversdale have combined their senior teams this year. They hosted Tokanui at Waikaka on Friday night and were beaten 23-17 by the south coasters.
One of Tokanui’s best — Jamie Callahan — played his 100th match for the club.
The women’s competition kicked off yesterday. A sixth club has joined the fray this season; Midlands will join Pioneer, Wakatipu, Marist, Albion and the defending champions Blues.
- John Langford