In 1998 the small eastern Southland town of Waikaka went rugby gaga.
The club’s senior team travelled to Invercargill to take on city slickers Star in the Galbraith Shield final. Most of the townsfolk and others from surrounding districts followed them to Invercargill in support, as a sea of green flowed into Rugby Park.
Waikaka created history by beating Star to claim the Galbraith Shield for the first and only time. Paul Miller, Wayne Miller, Hayden Byars, Josh Heke and many others wrote themselves into Waikaka folklore.
On Saturday that golden moment in the town’s history was remembered.
Many players from that Galbraith Shield-winning team had a get-together to mark 20 years since they brought the trophy back to Waikaka.
The occasion was tied in with Waikaka’s 2018 division one clash with Edendale and the current Waikaka players ensured the occasion was marked with a victory.
Waikaka beat Edendale 25-13 as part of an intriguing round of games on Saturday.
Early season pace-setter Midlands has started to wobble and was upset 23-16 in a thriller against Riversdale on Saturday.
Riversdale’s Craig Mundell scored in the dying moment to wrap up the win and open up a gap on other teams in the push for a semifinal spot.
Waikaka has now joined Midlands at the top of the standings and Wyndham shapes as another team bound for a semifinal spot this season.
Wyndham beat Waiau Star 36-7, while Te Anau’s thrilling 27-26 win over neighbour Mossburn could be regarded as another upset on Saturday.
There were upsets aplenty in what was also a strange round in division two on Saturday.
It was the final round of games before the top three teams from section A and section B link up for the remainder of the season and the bottom six teams play off among themselves.
Division two powerhouses Albion-Excelsior and Pioneer had already locked in their spots in the top grade heading into Saturday and were out-enthused by teams which had much more to play for.
Albion-Excelsior tasted its first defeat of 2018 when it was soundly beaten by Tokanui 31-15 at Tokanui.
However, the win was not quite enough to push Tokanui into the top three, as Riverton also picked up an upset 27-24 win over Pioneer to ensure it went through.
In the other section A game, Waikiwi beat Drummond-Limehills-Star 28-12.
In Section B of the competition, Blues sent alarm-bells ringing when it smashed Star 66-12 in a top-of-the-table clash.
Blues and Star will now head through to the top six stage of the season and will be joined by the Wakatipu Wanderers, who thumped Pirates-Old Boys 66-10.
In the other section B game, Woodlands beat Marist 24-14.
One of biggest concerns in Southland club rugby at the moment comes in division three, where there are fears for the future of the Collegiate club.
Collegiate is struggling to put a team on the field each week and on Saturday it was annihilated 135-0 by Mataura.
In other division three games, Otautau beat Bluff 14-10 and Balfour-Lumsden toppled Bush Pirates 28-16.
- Logan Savory