It was Valley’s its first loss of the season.
The home side gathered momentum towards halftime and pushed the score out to 25-7 at the break.
The second half was more one-sided in favour of West Taieri as Valley started to slip off tackles.
West Taieri’s forward pack once again set the platform and Ethan Hippolite and Luke Moeke were particularly strong.
Valley toiled hard but was forced into defending for far too long. Maurice Tairua continued his impressive form up front.
Crescent moved into outright second with a 41-24 win over Toko at Milton. The match was tightly contested for an hour.
Toko put up a valiant effort on defence and made Crescent work for its points but, as the game wore on, Crescent’s superior fitness showed.
Crescent’s forwards were top-drawer once again. Brendan Irwin is relishing his new role on the side of the scrum . Toko showed plenty of ticker but ran out of steam, not helped by another raft of injuries. Dylan Greer enjoyed being back and scored two tries for the home side.
Heriot kept its finals chances alive with a strong 40-10 win over Owaka. Heriot’s forwards ran well and made metres up the middle while the backs found plenty of holes.
Once Owaka managed to get its hands on the ball it strung together meaningful phases but, as has been the story of its season, managed to lose the ball with the tryline beckoning.
Heriot was led well by captain Elliott Goodcock. Fullback Dion Muir picked up another brace of tries. Owaka lock Todd Keen had a very strong game both with the ball and on defence.
Clutha piled on the points in the second half to beat Clinton 62-10 at Balclutha. In a tight first spell both sides threw the kitchen sink at each other. After 60 minutes, Clutha hit top gear and made the most of the space given to it to retain the Helen Huddleston-George McKenzie Memorial Trophy.
Clutha’s backs were strong with ball in hand, especially in the second half. Winger Robin Fesilafai showed how dangerous he can be with a hat trick of tries. Kane Teunissen directed play well and crossed twice himself. Clinton’s only try was scored by Craig McKenzie. Clinton coach Mark Wells started the match at first five-eighth and was in fine form until a head knock ended his day.
- Francis Parker