All games went with form at the weekend apart from the mighty AU, so the table is largely unchanged. How good for AU — from the depths of despair when cruelly deprived of points against Zingers two weeks ago for playing an unregistered Jermaine Ainsley, to storming back at the Toolbox to knock over GI. Ironically, one of their stars was the aforementioned prop.
Southern put 50-plus on Varsity to consign the students to their fifth successive defeat. Taieri, out at fortress Eelpit, put up a defensive wall that Hannibal could not breach as they suffocated the Harbour Hawks. Dunedin were not great but put 30-plus against Zingers in the first half, which was enough to get the five points in a scrappy affair. Zingers showed glimpses in the second spell of some real promise.
Taieri are three points ahead of Southern at the top. Harbour are seven points behind Varsity in sixth and now only four points ahead of Dunedin, but the Sharks have the bye this weekend so they are toast.
The saga
AU are not going away in the struggle to get back the points from the Zingers game. The word is correspondence has been flying between the club and MCRC at a furious rate. AU have appealed (and rightly so) the initial decision. I hear it’s complicated but if this decision stands, it puts into question another couple of results in the comp. We shouldn’t be here; Zingari should never have appealed and the MCRC should have handled it by way of a fine, as there is too much illegality already going on in terms of official teams named. We need to learn from this and make sure that in premier rugby, the rules are strictly adhered to. Update the wording around communication re team changes if need be. Make sure you watch ODT Rugby Chat (odt.co.nz) as we talk to the "fishheads" from AU about the last couple of weeks.
Down on the farm
For some reason up in the North they didn’t play again but that’s not unusual — it may have taken them four days to get to Dunners for the shield game. But I did hear that two weeks ago in the Valley v Old Boys game that the townies (Old Boys) finished the game with 10 men. That’s a lot of cards. Former Dunedin ref Trey McLean was in charge, so no surprises there! There was only a couple of points between the teams at the end. It begs the question: how the heck did Valley not score more points when they had a third more players on the paddock?
In Central, the Goats through good old-fashioned scrummaging power beat the coffee drinkers from Wakatip.
In the South, West Taieri have recorded back-to-back losses — are the wheels falling off? And in the deep South, the Baabaas finally had a loss in the comp to Woodlands, and big Taieri No 8 Sam Fischli dislocated his shoulder in his first hit-out. Recuperate quickly, mate.
Player welfare
I was up at Bastion Point (Zingari) on Saturday and arrived at the end of the women’s game between Zingari and Sharks. A player was injured and down in one of the in-goals and was unable to be moved because of a neck injury. It took two hours at least for an ambulance to arrive, a massive concern. The good news is she was later cleared. The same thing happened at Kettle Park last year when GI No 8 Ronan Dynes had the same wait with a serious leg injury. I’m not blaming St John — they just won’t have the resources. But is it time for us to think outside the square? Should the Dunedin sporting community, perhaps under the auspices of Sport Otago, fund an ambulance and crew to be on stand-by on a Saturday to attend any sporting medical injury in the town, similar to what horse racing meetings do? Leaving our athletes on fields for hours is unacceptable.
200 games
Big Mike Mata’afa from the Magpies suits up for his 200th game this weekend. He’s played all of his rugby at Bathgate Park from schoolboys then on to Kings then back to his beloved Southern. Only three guys have gone before him in reaching the amazing milestone: Lindsay Clark, Warren Moffat and Spook Herden. No surprises it’s three props out of four players! They know how to take shortcuts, miss the fitness sessions — and their bodies are temples! Mike, you’ve been playing premier rugby for 16 years, so congratulations on a wonderful club career. Reggie, I hope you and your club turn it on for the big man tomorrow.
This weekend
Destroyed Riley Lucas from GI last weekend and I even tipped AU to beat GI. The Eels (13+) are in superlative form and are at home to arch enemy GI at the Eelpit this weekend and I think this game only goes one way.
Taieri want the Gallaway and this will ensure they get it. Southern (13+) host Harbour. The Magpies’ pack are besting everyone and Harbour will feel that this weekend. The Magpies backs are also starting to click, so they’ll be too strong for the Hawks. Zingers are at home to Kaik (13+) at Montecillo and this only goes one way — Kaik all over them like a rash. The mighty AU host Varsity and I’m sniffing another upset but the Bookworms may get a few players back on deck, so Varsity (12-) just, but it will be oh so close.
Unbelievably lost to Landers chairman and Goats stalwart Peter Kean at the weekend when Cromwell outmuscled Wakatip, but that was only a blip! On to Woody Woodhead from Toko this weekend so surely I bounce back. Owaka are at home to Heriot (12-) but I’ll take the visitors to upset them. Clutha Valley (13+) will be too strong for Lawrence, who defaulted last week to Clutha. Woody assures me the Prison Guards from Toko will be spit roasting pork on Saturday at the Market Garden but I’m not so sure — West Taieri (12-) bounce back and just get up. Rumours are abounding that my team Clinton are struggling to put a team on the paddock this weekend, so Clutha (13+) sadly win in a canter.
