The 38-year-old former Stags centurion in recent years has made the transition into the coaching ranks. However, he has still popped in for his Pirates-Old Boys club to fill gaps where needed, either in the loose forwards or at hooker, where he played the bulk of representative rugby.
With Pirates-Old Boys down on back troops on Saturday against Marist, Southland club rugby entered some sort of twilight zone as Hall threw himself into the left-wing role, where he ended up playing 80 minutes.
It is a glowing endorsement for Hall in regard to his willingness to do what is needed for his team. On the flip side, it has probably shone the spotlight on just where Southland’s outside back stocks are at.
Let’s put that side story to one side, though, and focus on the actual game at Surrey Park on Saturday — a game where both sides probably came away a little bit disappointed.
Marist dominated the early exchanges and wing Keanu Kahukura opened the scoring with a try after eight minutes, after a nice run from Curtis Tarrant.
Scott Eade pushed it out to 8-0 before Marist made it 15-0 inside the first half of the game when centre Will Murray scored.
Pirates-Old Boys struck back when halfback Jonty Wood scored the first of his two tries in the game to make it 15-7.
Just five minutes into the second half, wing Bryce Morgan scooted down the right-hand touch to score and at 20-7 a runaway Marist win looked likely.
But the momentum switched and for the remainder of the game it was all Pirates-Old Boys, as they went close to snatching victory.
Fullback Josh Buchan scored before Wood went in for his second try when Pirates-Old Boys put the Marist scrum under pressure and he swooped as the ball popped out.
That reduced the margin to 20-17 and set up a tense finish.With just a few minutes on the clock, Pirates-Old Boys was awarded a very handy penalty and captain Craig Smith pointed to the posts in a quest to level the scores.
However, first five-eighth Greg Dyer pushed the penalty attempt wide.
Pirates-Old Boys were not doneand went on an attacking assault in the final couple of minutes.
The home team went close to scoring on many occasions but eventually an error ended play and referee Kirk Rae blew fulltime.
Top-of-the-table Marist would have been delighted with the 20-17 result but not so encouraged by the overall performance.
For Pirates-Old Boys, it was another game where the what-if tag could be attached.
The close loss takes Pirates-Old Boys’ 2018 record to two wins and six losses but the close nature of the competition ensures it is still very much in the playoff hunt, sitting just three points behind fourth-placed Eastern-Northern Barbarians, who lost 28-19 to Blues on Saturday.
Blues sits in third spot, two points behind second-placed Woodlands.
Woodlandsbeat Star 22-15 on Saturday, in a game played at Woodlands.
- Logan Savory