Harbour 45
Alhambra-Union 12
The backline showed its class as Harbour dominated from the outset to brush aside Alhambra-Union at North Ground.
Four first-half tries gave the Hawks a 28-0 lead at halftime, which became 40-0 midway through the second half.
A pair of late tries stemmed the bleeding for Alhambra-Union, but Harbour walked away with a comfortable 45-12 win.
The conditions allowed for a more expansive game than in recent weeks and Harbour’s backs took full advantage. They kept ball in hand and showed their ability to strike from long range.
Mitch Regan scored after five minutes, and Piliu Tavake and Toby Kennett crossed to take it out to 21-0 inside 25 minutes.
While Alhambra-Union had a period on attack, its inability to finish hampered it and was compounded when Regan scored again on halftime.
Austin Atiga crossed one minute into the second half to add another for Harbour, before first five Obey Samate — whose goal-kicking was accurate all day — broke the line to score and make it 40-0.
Thomas Frood scored twice for AU in the final 20 minutes, on the end of a cross-kick from classy first five Levi Emery.
However, it was far too late and Harbour scored on fulltime via openside flanker Toni Taufa to add one more.
Kaikorai 33
Southern 13
Kaikorai locked in a place in the playoffs with a 33-13 bonus-point win over Southern in the Frank Cadman Memorial at Bathgate Park.
Playing an expansive game in the opening stages, centre Filipo Whitehouse-Opetaia Tovio parted the Southern midfield defence to score the first of a brace.
Jack Leslie countered with a penalty for Southern, and the remaining 30 minutes of the first half was a hard-fought encounter played between the two 22m lines, both sides buoyed by the intensity of defence.
Kaikorai was particularly impressive when mustering its defence after losing halfback Kane Johnston to the bin five minutes before the break. But Southern exploited this in the opening stages of the second half to score through winger Dylan Hook, who used his size and strength to barge over in the corner.
When first five Leslie was binned soon after Johnston’s return, it was Kaikorai’s turn to repay the favour. It exploited the lack of numbers in Southern’s inside backs, retaking the lead and accumulating 14 points in the process.
On Leslie’s return, the game returned to an intensive defensive affair until the big timber from Kaikorai’s bench ran on and forced Southern on the back foot.
Mitch Mahoni-Rae, Champ Betham and Harrison Morton all had an impact in the final quarter to help set up a further two tries and well-earned victory.
Taieri 18
Zingari-Richmond 9
Zingari-Richmond did its best to take Taieri out of its game.
The Colours slowed down the competition leader, which never managed to find its rhythm.
However, three first-half tries gave the Eels an 18-9 victory at Peter Johnstone Park.
With a bye to come in the final week of the round robin, it leaves Taieri unbeaten — although it was denied a bonus point and a perfect 40 competition points by a dogged Zingari team.
There were glimpses of quality from Taieri.
Winger Mitchell Scott got on the end of the chain as the ball went through the backline’s hands to score Taieri’s first try after nine minutes.
That made it 5-3, before fullback Shaun Driver kicked Zingari back ahead at 6-5.
Fullback Josh Casey doubled Taieri’s score, again on the end of the backline and using his pace to make it 10-6 after 27 minutes.
Five minutes later, hooker Brady Robertson went over from a lineout drive to make it 15-6.
Driver pulled Zingari back to within six just before the break, before a largely forgettable second half was capped when Caleb Leef kicked a late penalty to seal the win for Taieri.
Tofatuimoana Solia was a handful for Zingari at No8, while Jin Ho Mun had a good game at halfback.
Openside flanker Leroy Ferguson got through a ton of work for the hosts, while Robertson had a similarly strong game despite being yellow-carded midway through the second half.
Dunedin 53
Green Island 7
Dunedin started strongly at Miller Park and first five Cam Burgess exploited the space and went through a couple of tackles to score an early converted try.
The Sharks continued to dominate territory and possession, and fullback Tomas Hanham-Carter made the most of it to score from a quick tap and also slotted a couple of penalties to give Dunedin an 18-point lead at the break.
Green Island got into some promising positions but was let down by handling and errant passing.
Fullback Al Momoisea finally got the home team into the game when he split the defence and put winger Zion Niha over for a converted try seconds into the second half.
The key moment of the game occurred 14 minutes into the spell when the game’s best player, Dunedin flanker Josh Retter, broke out from his own 5m and the backline joined in to put Marcus Hetherington away, and the ball ended up in the hands of halfback Devon Oliver-Bell, who scampered away and GI’s day was done.
Dunedin added four more tries, Hanham-Carter getting a brace in a 28-point haul. Retter showed amazing strength and went through six tackles on a 20m run to the line, and replacement halfback Tim Hogan and winger Hetherington completed the scoring.
GI, already down on strength, lost a few players with injury during the game and made too many errors and fell off too many tackles to be competitive.
Flanker Hame Toma was at his direct running best for Dunedin, rookie Burgess and debutant Hetherington displayed a lot of classy touches, and midfielder Ben Shepherd was bruising on attack and defence.
Momoisea was GI’s most dangerous player and debutant first five Ryan Greenslade was competent.
Dunedin club rugby
Round eight
Kaikorai 33 (Filipo Whitehouse-Opetaia Tovio 2, Lucas Casey, Mitch Mahoni-Rae, Nico Bowering tries; Ben Miller 2 con, Nic Profitt 2 con),
Southern 13 (Dylan Hook try; Jack Leslie con, 2 pen). Halftime: Kaikorai 5-3.
Taieri 18 (Mitchell Scott, Josh Casey, Brady Robertson tries; Caleb Leef pen),
Zingari-Richmond 9 (Shaun Driver 3 pen). Halftime: Taieri 15-9.
Harbour 45 (Mitch Regan 2, Piliu Tavake, Toby Kennett, Austin Atiga, Obey Samate, Toni Taufa tries; Samate 5 con),
Alhambra-Union 12 (Thomas Frood 2 tries; Levi Emery con). Halftime: Harbour 28-0.
Dunedin 53 (Tomas Hanham-Carter 2, Devon Oliver-Bell, Tim Hogan, Josh Retter, Cam Burgess, Marcus Hetherington tries; Hanham-Carter 6
con, 2 pen),
Green Island 7 (Zion Nina try; Ryan Greenslade con). Halftime: Dunedin 18-0.
-- Rugby Writers
