West Taieri produced its first win of the South Otago premier season at the third time of asking.
The Pigs beat Owaka 17-15 under lights in Owaka on Thursday night.
West Taieri attacked relentlessly in the opening quarter and opened the scoring from a lineout drive after twenty minutes.
Just before halftime, Owaka scored the try of the match when a lineout drive and some classy back play led to winger Takyhara Ieru crossing in the corner.
West Taieri led10-8 at the break, and Owaka’s chances were dealt a blow early after halftime when Ieru was ordered off the field for his second yellow card.
Prop Chris Preddy was also stood down for 10 minutes, leaving 13 players on the field for Owaka.
Towards the end of the match, West Taieri replacement Jared Cunningham spotted a gap and scampered through to give his side a 17-8 lead with 10 minutes remaining.
Owaka hit back through midfielder Sene Te’o, but it was too late for the home side.
Clutha Valley retained the Brian Steel Memorial Trophy with a 36-7 win at Clinton on Thursday night.
The scoreline looked comfortable, but but it was a hard-fought contest for most of the game.
Valley controlled the first half and bossed territory and possession. Clinton’s defence was also on point as it forced errors and effected turnovers.
Continued attacks from the travelling team and a yellow card to Mark Wells took its toll on Clinton towards the end as Valley ran in four late tries.
Toko continued its strong start to the season with a convincing 36-14 win at Lawrence on Friday night.
Toko came to play in the first half. It was relentless with ball in hand, its scrum was scarily dominant, and its lineout trickery was impressive.
The second half was entirely different as Lawrence managed to hold on to possession and frustrate the Toko side.
Lawrence inched up the field and forced Toko into making rash decisions on defence, whether it was a breakdown penalty or a high shot.
Injuries to Lawrence’s front rowers ensured the whole second half would be played under the golden oldies law, which did deflate Toko’s set piece dominance, but Lawrence toiled away and showed plenty of ticker against a side hot on form.
Crescent retained the Challenge Cup with a 21-14 win over bitter rival Clutha at Kaitangata on Saturday.
The Crescent players rolled up their sleeves on defence and repelled many Clutha attacks in the first half.
Both sides scored two tries in the first spell, but Crescent went into halftime 15-14 ahead.
The only points in a hard-fought second half came from the tee of Crescent first five Chase Owen, who slotted two penalties.
The collision areas were fierce and both sides had plenty of chances to take the game in hand. Crescent deserved its win in front of a huge crowd.
- Francis Parker
