But realistically, finals footy looks a stretch. AU’s season will probably come to end on June 25 — nine weeks after the season started.
Covid is mostly to blame. The season got under way late due to the pandemic.
But some clubs are married to the idea of hosting the club final before players are whipped away to prepare for the National Provincial Championship.
Those two factors shrunk the playing window to just 12 weeks.
For the teams who miss out on the top six, their season will total just eight games.
Half of those are played away from home, which means clubs have just four home fixtures to pay the bills.
Alhambra-Union chairman Gary Wheeler said it was "not enough, really".
"Clubs want their players for the semifinals and finals but we end up having to reduce the season," he said.
"Obviously we started a month late with Covid. But ideally we’d like to have the season going a bit longer, really."
Zingari-Richmond is in similar spot. Barring a stunning turn of events, the Colours will also bow out early.
Club chairman Stephen Baughan said the shortened season "will place fiscal pressure on the clubs".
"We are fortunate to have diverse revenue streams and don’t need to rely solely on revenue from food and beverage," he said.
"Hopefully next season we can play more rugby as things return to the new normal."
Alhambra-Union (seven points) can still sneak into the playoffs with a win over Harbour (15) at the North Ground and victory against Kaikorai next weekend. But it will have to rely on other results.
University has the bye this week and sits in sixth place with 13 points.
The students will no doubt be interested in the outcome of Green Island’s home fixture against Dunedin.
The Grizzlies are in seventh place with 11 points and can edge University out of the top six.
Dunedin is pretty comfortable in second place with 20 points.
Taieri (35 points) hosts Zingari-Richmond (five points) at Peter Johnstone Park. The Eels are chasing a perfect season and should be too strong.
Southern’s match against Kaikorai at Bathgate Park shapes as the game of the round. Southern is in third place with 19 points, while Kaikorai is in fifth with 14 points and has less wriggle room than the Magpies.
