Thomas Johnson drilled a late dropped goal to help Zingari-Richmond upset University 27-24, and Green Island pivot Ben Patston’s wonderful tactical kicking proved instrumental in his side’s surprise 31-29 win against Alhambra-Union.
Kaikorai was forced to work hard to beat Taieri 17-8, while Harbour brushed aside Dunedin 32-0.
Southern had the bye but remains at the top of the standings with 45 points.
Green Island 31
Alhambra-Union 29
Green Island got to fling its arms in the air at the end of a game for the first time this season thanks to the boot of Ben Patston.
The first five-eighth helped seize control of the game with some pinpoint tactical kicking in the 31-29 win against Alhambra-Union at the North Ground.
His first magic touch came after a series of attacks. He spotted space out wide and kicked across field to flanker Matt McCutcheon, who offloaded to unmarked winger Brad Tunnicliffe to score.
Moments later, he chipped in behind the Alhambra pack. The cover defender fumbled and flanker Tim Heller was on hand to scoop the ball up and dive over.
The next try was straight-out woeful defence, though. Patston flicked the ball back inside to burly second five-eighth Latu Siaki, who ran through a huge gap in the line.
He still had two defenders in front of him but they got in each other’s way and were bumped off like skittles.
Alhambra centre Legin Felix-Hotham narrowed the gap to 26-14 when he brushed aside a limp tackle and ran in a 50m try. But the home side blew a wonderful opportunity to cut the gap further when Ben Tuiomanufili dropped the ball with the line open and about 5m to run.
Hooker Peter Mirrielees’ second-half try from a lineout drive made it very hard for Alhambra to come back but the Broncos rallied through a late try to Adam Simpson. Zach Porter missed the conversion, which would have tied the game and denied Green Island its first win for the season.
Kaikorai 17
Taieri 8
Despite the final scoreline, Taieri had the better of an error-plagued Kaikorai at Peter Johnstone Park.
It deprived the defending champion of territory and possession throughout the first half and kept it pinned deep inside its own half.
A fortuitous intercept by wing Byron Dodge in the fourth minute proved to be Kaikorai’s only feature in the first 40 minutes.
Despite this early setback, Taieri exposed Kaikorai early in its lack of commitment to drift in defence when fullback Mitchell Scott ran wide to create an overlap to run in and score from 30m out.
Scott’s try served as inspiration to his side, as it kept Kaikorai trapped in its own half.
Unfortunately, its only reward came as a penalty just before the break. Its 8-7 lead remained intact until the 75-minute mark when replacement Angus Gray slotted a penalty goal to hand Kaikorai back the lead. Jordan McEntee scored from an intercept soon afterwards, and Gray slotted the conversion for a hard-earned 17-8 victory.
Taieri was superbly led by Scott, who proved a handful in counterattack, and halfback Kurt Hammer, who excelled with his option taking, particularly from a scrum under pressure from a powerful Kaikorai pack.
There will no doubt be some soul-searching in the Kaikorai ranks if it is to progress in the top four. Its line-breaking opportunities came about from the superb work put in from its tight five, only to break down shortly afterwards through handling errors.
Zingari-Richmond 27
University 24
Thomas Johnson was the hero. His last-minute 30m dropped goal won the game and marked a big turnaround in Zingari-Richmond’s fortunes.
When Zingari played University at Montecillo last season, the students won 137-0. Johnson’s dropped goal was the first in Dunedin premier club rugby since University’s Stephen Fenemor landed a goal against Southern in 2015.
Johnson was always in the game and scored 21 points with two tries, three conversions and the dropped goal to give the Colours their second win of the season.
The students led 16-14 at the break and stretched the lead to 21-14 when second five-eighth Mike Williams scored after sustained forward pressure 15 minutes into the second spell.
The Zingari forwards came back strongly after this and dominated the lineout through lock Eli Tonga and flanker Tom Rowe. They matched the student scrum with prop Chris Preddy solid in the front row, and the strong tackling of Rowe, Tonga and No8 Chris Bell subdued the students.
It allowed Johnson to weave his magic and he scored 13 points in the last 12 minutes to win the game for Zingari.
His second try came after sustained pressure by backs and forwards and he evened the scores at 24-24 with a long-range penalty goal with just three minutes left.
Zingari’s drifting defence shut down the speedy student backline. Midfield back Dwayne Corcoran was sharp on defence and attack.
Wing Taylor Haugh and halfback Jack Bird were the best student backs and No8 Sione Teu the best forward.
Harbour 32
Dunedin 0
The conditions were marginal at Port with an icy wind across the ground, meaning most of the play was played down the touch line by the clubrooms. One team, Harbour, played the conditions well, thus the six tries, while Dunedin was tactically inept.
The early stages of the game were relatively even but Harbour used runners one wide of the ruck to make inroads into the Dunedin defence and with the territory advantage, the points had to come. It scored close-range tries to hooker Aiden Spence and flanker James Tomkinson.
The Dunedin kicking game was woeful, considering the wind, and a poor kick led to a Logan Allan-sparked counterattack that went 60m and ended with flanker Ben Whale going over in the opposite corner. This gave Harbour a deserved 15-point lead at the break. The second spell was more of the same as Dunedin, unbelievably, tried to spread the ball wide in the windy conditions. It gave up a minimum of five intercept passes in its backline, effectively sealing its demise.
Flanker Tomkinson went over again and lock Chucky Koroi and No8 Charles Elton strolled over for tries to complete the scoring for Harbour. For Harbour, loose forwards Elton, Whale and Tomkinson were impressive and Koroi and Sione Misiloi dominated the lineouts. Halfback Tala Fagasoaia and flyhalf Allan played intelligently and kept the ball in front of their rampant pack.
Although Dunedin was down on strength, few players enhanced their reputations. Captain and lock Mark Grieve Dunn and flanker Jamie Mowat were standouts in a beaten pack. The ageing replacement prop Bronson Ross carried the ball strongly in the second spell.
These two teams will probably square off in the semifinals in a few weeks and, if so, Harbour has made an emphatic statement.
