For the second successive week, Blues hammered the line late in a Southland premier club rugby showdown only for it to all come unstuck.
Down 19-14 with time up on the clock in their contest with defending champion Marist on Saturday, Blues found themselves within metres of snatching a match-winning try.
Blues were awarded a penalty under the posts in the dying moments and took a quick tap as the Marist defence scrambled. However, that rush led to a Blues player becoming isolated and he was penalised for holding on. Ultimately it handed Marist the win as the ball was kicked out.
Early on, it looked as if Marist would run away with this contest when Flynn Thomas, playing on the flank, scooted in after just five minutes to score. Midway through the first half Marist was in the points again with another of the green-and-blacks Stags’ contingent, Phil Halder, scoring to make it 12-0. With the wind at their backs, Blues mounted a better showing in the second half and struck first.
Lock Ray Tatafu, holding the ball in one hand as if it was a tennis ball, stretched out from a ruck close to the line to score and bring it back to 12-7.Despite Blues making most of the play, Marist struck back through a long-range try to left wing Alatini Vaihu to make it 19-7.But Blues were not done. No8 Bill Fukofuka found a gap around the fringes of a ruck and scored easily before they then mounted their late assault on the Marist line, only to come up short.
It was the second tight loss for Blues after they were pipped 20-17 by Star in week one.
New Stags coach Dave Hewett was present and while the stop-start spectacle probably did not thrill him too much,
he would have been impressed by the play of Thomas, a leading Stags option for 2018. Thomas was Marist’s best in the win, both through his work rate and his nice skills with the ball in hand.
It was Thomas’s last outing for Marist for a while, as he lines up for the Highlanders Bravehearts team this weekend before joining the New Zealand under-20 team for the Oceania tournament on the Gold Coast.Blues halfback Jay Renton will also have a break from club rugby as he, too, prepares for an opportunity with the New Zealand under-20 team.
Marist’ and Star as the only unbeaten teams after the first two rounds. Star had to work hard to topple Eastern-Northern Barbarians 22-18 on Saturday. In the third premier fixture, Woodlands picked up a 40-15 bonus-point win over Pirates-Old Boys.
- Logan Savory
Southland
Premier club rugby
Marist 19, Blues 14; Woodlands 40, Pirates-Old Boys 15; Star 22, Eastern-Northern Barbarians 18