West Taieri game from perfect season

West Taieri will be desperate not to fall at the final hurdle as it gets ready to host the Southern Region final tomorrow.

The Pigs have swept all before them with their debut in the Southern Region competition and get the chance to cap it all off with a win at home against Clutha Valley at Outram.

Wanting to try out the Southern Region competition and its later kick-offs, the West Taieri side has gone through unbeaten and won most games by big margins.

It has been adept at getting off to fast starts and being too far ahead by halftime to be run down by other sides.

That was not the story though in last week’s semifinal against Clutha. West Taieri, playing at home, was up just 15-12 at the break.

But good cohesion and superior fitness got it home and it was a convincing winner in the end, coming out on top 40-17.

Halfback Jackson Reid helped himself to three tries and was hard to contain around the ruck while outside him Callum Smeaton tallied 22 points through four conversions, three penalties and a try.

The key for Clutha Valley is to get on top of the West Taieri pack and take any chance which comes along. Clutha Valley just squeaked home last week, beating Crescent 46-38 in a high-scoring match at Clydevale.

Clutha Valley has plenty of energy and will want to show the expansive side to its game although it has to get the ball first.

Josh Botting, these days starting games at loose forward, is a key while halfback Jared Edwards has been in good form.

West Taieri is bound to have plenty of support at home although that will be limited to the restrictions around crowd numbers if Alert Level 2 is still in force.

Those restrictions have already put an end to the bottom four playoff match between Heriot and Toko, which was cancelled yesterday.

 

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