Two of the rugby unions in the Hanan Shield region, North Otago and South Canterbury, have swapped their senior club finals systems this year.
North Otago has changed its one-life system to a two-life system, while South Canterbury has reverted to the one-life system from a two-life system for this season’s finals.
In North Otago, the first round of the playoffs this weekend will have the top qualifier playing the second qualifier, and third meeting fourth.
The loser of the first v second game will get a life, and play the third v fourth winner on July 17. The winner of first v second gets a week off ahead of the final on July 24.
Old Boys finished top after the regular season on 41 points, followed by Valley, Kurow (both 39), Maheno (26), Athletic Marist (14) and Excelsior (8).
Old Boys will play Valley, which qualified second as it earned more points in games between it and Kurow, at Whitestone Contracting Stadium, and Kurow will host Maheno.
In earlier rounds, Old Boys and Valley had a 26-26 draw before Old Boys won the rematch 29-17.
Maheno pipped Kurow 21-20 in the first round but Kurow took the honours, 59-28, in the second.
Excelsior and Athletic Marist missed the playoffs but both clubs are at a rebuilding stage.
For Excelsior, it was a forgettable first game when it had to default to Valley. Blues beat Athletic Marist 29-19 but then suffered eight straight losses.
Athies were also rebuilding with several younger players, although there were two players who came down from Auckland for the season.
They won two of their 10 games, against Excelsior and Kurow, and only lost to Valley by a point, showing some signs of progresses after several lean years.
The two semifinals for the president’s grade will be played tomorrow afternoon when Kurow hosts Valley at 12.30pm, and Union plays Excelsior at Ngapara at 1pm.
- Terry O'Neill
