Valley retained its Citizens Shield lead when it defeated Kurow 56-24 in Kurow on Thursday evening. Old Boys moved into second place on Saturday with a not conclusive 38-15 win over an improving Athletic Marist at Whitestone Stadium, and at the Maheno Domain, Excelsior ripped the Maheno defence to shreds in a 71-28 win.
Old Boys struggled to build up momentum against Athletic Marist. It took 15 minutes to register its first try.
But it got going in the final stages of the spell and led 17-0 at the break.
Athletic Marist hit back early in the second half through hooker Josh Thomas and fullback Etene Gucake scored wide out to narrow the margin to seven points.
Old Boys upped the rate and tries to right winger Gene Marshall and midfielder Omega Masoe put the result beyond doubt.
Excelsior ran in 11 tries in downing Maheno. The win has moved the side into third place on the Citizens Shield ladder.
After a mediocre start, Excelsior's midfield of Taina Tamou and Antonio Misiloi began to find weaknesses in the Maheno defence and the tries came thick and fast.
Excelsior led 36-7 at halftime and continued to dominate, No8 Samuela Babiau, second five-eighth Misiloi (2) and Tamou adding further tries.
Maheno rallied in the final quarter with tries to Ryley McColl and Adam Johnston.
Valley made it six wins on end. Utility back Brad McKenzie had a field night under lights, scoring 31 points. To be fair, Kurow produced an improved performance, running in four tries, two in each half, to pick up a bonus point.
Netball
Waitaki Girls Lightning Strike, Valley Gold and Waitaki Girls' Wildfire are the only unbeaten premier netball teams after the second round was completed on Saturday.
In what was to be a tight contest right from the start, Valley Gold was tied 8-8 with Athletic at quarter time. Valley had a good second quarter and from then on controlled the game with the Gold's shooting circle, Rihi Schultz and India McLay dominant. Valley had to work hard against defenders Ella Francis and Robyn Williams, who were outstanding, while Athletic goal shoot Jess Kerr landed 23 from 23.
Valley Silver had an uphill battle against Waitaki Girls' Lightning Strike but Valley played well as a team, with wing attack Kate McGregor leading the team on both attack and defence, and wing defence Grace Firman and goal defence Ana Siale standing out before Lightning Strike got home 37-19.
Maheno Green was never headed in its match against St Kevin's A but strong defence from the College side kept the score close. Both teams started at a fast pace, causing a lot of turnovers, before Maheno was the first to settle and lead 14-9 at halftime.
St Kevin's worked hard in the second half, while Maheno's shooting duo of Becky Taylor and Shannon Vince worked well together to combat the tall St Kevin's defence.
For St Kevin's, Serena O'Brien worked tirelessly on defence, while centre Megan Dood stepped up into the position and played well. Shooters Tegan Souness and Annie Metcalfe combined well against Maheno's experienced circle defence.
- Terry O'Neill