Crescent controlled territory and possession in the first half of the Southern Region clash on the back of an extremely dominant set piece.
The halftime score was 19-0 to Crescent but could have been much larger if it was not for a committed Heriot defensive line.
The second half was one-way traffic again with Crescent’s forward pack setting a perfect platform.
Crescent’s backs, led by Chase Owen, got their side into the right areas of the field, and their tight forwards did the rest, scoring four of their six tries.
West Taieri also remained unbeaten with a clinical 37-12 win over Clutha Valley at Clydevale.
West Taieri retained the Holmes Milk Can after a solid second-half effort saw them running away with the game.
The first half was extremely hard-fought, but the visitors scored just before halftime to take momentum into the break and, from there, they controlled the second half and asked Valley to do a lot of tackling.
The constant pressure wore the Valley defence out and West Taieri scored three second-half tries to blow the score out.
Toko picked up their first win of the season with a 31-29 victory over Owaka at Swamp Hen Park.
The game was a backwards-and-forwards encounter with the key factor being Owaka’s poor discipline on defence. They were regularly called offside, which allowed Toko to enter their red zone on several occasions to turn pressure into points.
At one stage, Owaka had two players in the sin-bin at the same time. Although they did not concede any points in the time they had the disadvantage, it was difficult to create anything for themselves.
Owaka led with five minutes remaining before Toko scored the winner in the dying stages.
Clutha beat Lawrence 33-12 in a game that was anyone’s for the taking for the first hour of play.
Lawrence forced Clutha into making some uncharacteristic mistakes, but they failed to capitalise on having the lion’s share of territory and possession.
The difference-maker was Clutha’s reserves introduced on the hour mark.
Once the bench players hit their straps, Clutha scored three second-half tries to take the game away.
— Francis Parker
