Photo: ODT Files Although the favoured teams finished up winning all three contests in the Central Otago premier club competition on Saturday, it is fair to say the abnormal featured in a couple of them. One game started on one field and finished on another while Cromwell prospered from the magic boot of Brayden Laing, who kicked six penalties to frustrate neighbours Arrowtown. In the only ‘‘normal’’ contest of the afternoon, Wakatipu claimed maximum points in putting away Alexandra 32-17 in Queenstown. Upper Clutha were always going to be too powerful in their White Horse Cup fixture against Matakanui Combined, a team they had hammered 69-3 in the opening round of the season. But the game that started on the main oval in Wanaka was transferred to the No 2 field just after halftime when a Matakanui player suffered a potentially serious neck injury. Fortunately, he was not seriously injured, but with the officials losing contact with their apparatus, the Central Otago rugby website showed the final score as 31-0 when it was in fact 56-12. Four of Upper Clutha’s 10 tries went to flying winger Jack East. It was a toss-up between him and flanker Jack Colbourne for player of the day. Matakanui Combined were competitive up front, and did score two tries, but were comprehensively outgunned when the ball went wide. Cromwell had only one point to spare when they beat Arrowtown in the opening contest of the season but, thanks to Laing’s boot, they were always in control on Saturday. Five Laing penalties had Cromwell ahead 15-7 at halftime with the inversion layer over Cromwell making for frigid conditions. Cromwell extended the lead to 35-14 with 15 minutes to play before Arrowtown launched a spirited comeback. A try to hooker Ben Carr made it 35-21 before replacement Adam Hubber tore off an intercept on his own 22m, but he was run down 10m from the posts. Cromwell’s standout players, in a mucky game in which four players were sinbinned, were hooker Ben Johnson, prop Alex Chubb, midfielder Hayden Todd and, of course, super-boot Laing. Tom Williams, a powerful lock who has come to Wakatipu from the Waikato, was the star of their 32-17 victory over Alexandra, a four-try result that keeps Wakatipu in touch with leaders Cromwell and Upper Clutha. Centre Rube Peina and flanker Thomas Ria were other standout players for the home team. The club competition resumes on June 6 with the focus next Saturday on the Topp Cup fixture in Balclutha. - Bob Howitt
