The wrap
Come back all is forgiven) who got all games right in the Speight's ODT Tipping Comp, but let's not get carried away, he is still 70th!
The first semi between Dunedin and Harbour was a tight, tense affair with the Sharks winning with a late penalty to defeather the Hawks.
There is talk the penalty missed but more soon.
With a young ref in charge there was always going to be controversy but Harbour, as per usual, gave away too many penalties which ultimately cost it the game. The Dunedin pack ingested the ball at times and it never had time to get a tan!
At one stage the ref, the touchies and unbelievably the Harbour manager were all having a summit conference mid pitch - a four ring circus it was! But as the "Old Girl'' (ODT) said on Monday: "Dunedin are in the final.''
So Varsity up by 20 early and up by 10 with eight minutes to play and with Kaik down to 14 this game was done!
But in the biggest upset since Buster Douglas beat Iron Mike, Kaik scored two tries and is in the final - go figure.
In my defence of my Nostradamus-like ability to pick winners, I went pretty well.
I picked Varsity, Harbour and Kaik to make the four in my first column of the year with the fourth spot a toss-up but then again I did say Varsity wouldn't lose a game ...
The final
Kaik last won a banner in 1997, under the venerable Tony Gilbert, and goes into this final against Dunedin as the overwhelming favourite.
Most of its supporters are wondering why Dunedin would bother to turn up.
Kaikorai has beaten Dunedin twice this year, as it does most years, it has won the last eight on the trot and is starting to gel like a champion team.
Kaik is strong across the park and has a decided advantage out wide, with more pace and flair.
This is its final to lose.
Dunedin has the strongest pack in town and to win, it needs to dominate possession and the pack needs to swallow the ball for numerous phases and never regurgitate it.
That is a big ask under the roof of the Glasshouse.
Good luck to both sides.
The Scotty Eade debacle
So the Highlanders pull Scotty Eade out of the Dunedin side for the semis to have him as cover for the finals campaign, which I duly protested over last week.
I'm now of the understanding that they knew last Friday that he was ineligible to play for them and yet they still didn't release him back to his club.
The marketing gurus now market the Highlanders as a club, not a franchise as they used to be.
Well, lads, clubs don't do this to each other. You have a long way to go to make up for this!
Get this, the latest update is that Scotty Eade has now been released for the final - I'm speechless!
Where to from here for the Hawks
Facebook (what is that?) was abuzz on Monday as a dodgy video emerged which purported to tell us the Louis Tili [Sharks first five-eighth] penalty to win the game for Dunedin over Harbour didn't go over.
The vitriol spiralled as incensed Harbour supporters ranted at that decision, the penalty count, the young ref, the '51 waterfront strike, etc.
All entertaining stuff, but funnily enough, the result hasn't changed. Lance (Abramovich) Spence, the Harbour chairman, has been campaigning to get the club and Zingari to look at some sort of closer links.
Lance has got no traction with his committee and has now resigned from the club.
This is a massive blow for Harbour, as Lance and wife Kerry have held that club together for the last few years, both financially and with their enthusiasm.
Love him or hate him, he is a visionary and I don't see Harbour rebounding from this.
I hope I'm wrong.
Lance, if you need a beer on a club Saturday I'll shout for you out at Shark Park.
What am I going to write about now?
Are they pretenders?
Eastern are looking like having a crack at Prem honours if they win the Prem II comp.
Eastern is nine points clear at the top of that comp and will finish top of the round robin in two weeks.
But a word of advice, if you want to be a premier club you need to act like one.
Unbelievably, the Dunedin Prem IIs have been drawn to play Eastern at Waikouaiti this weekend when their Prems are playing in the final.
Dunedin wanted to play the game on Friday night, or as early as possible on Saturday, but were turned down flat by Eastern, so the game is out there at 12.30pm.
Didn't I promote this venue last year as the Friday night Oasis?
Didn't Dunedin try to get Eastern back into prem rugby with ill-fated Eastern Sharks?
Very poor performance lads, you have covered yourselves with no glory here!
Other grades
The top four in prem IIs look like being Eastern, Kaik, Taieri and Varsity.
It's a tough one to pick but I'm going for a final between Kaik and Varsity.
In prem Colts we are looking at a Varsity, Taieri, Dunedin and AU top four.
I'm picking Varsity and Dunedin to be in the final.
But both grades are not finalised yet, so it's all still very much up in the air.
It doesn't pay to be an "expert'' in this comp.
Ask ODT sports editor Steve Hepburn, who sits fourth last.
'ODT'/Speight's picking comp
With two games to go only four people can win the picking comp: Blair Bezett, Diane Wheeler, Peter Holmes and Adam Whaanga.
But Blair from the Spannerheads is 13 points clear, so would need to have a brain explosion to lose.
So it looks like Snowy from Speight's is hosting a Spannerhead contingent.
Well done, lads.
Country rugby
Old Boys win every year in the winterless North, so should destroy Maheno.
But Old Boys don't deserve it.
They defaulted a game this year, so Maheno, on the back of the Smith brothers, Robbie and Craig, win it all - you heard it here first.
Central and South are playing to Christmas but I'm tipping the Maggots and Lawrence to win their respective comps and I think that's about Labour Weekend.
This weekend
Up against the bristly nosed warthog himself, Mark Scully, absentee meinhost at the Alehouse this weekend, so I win again (17 from 18 but who's counting?)
Kaik should win a canter, but because Jack O'Dea, the Godfather of the Sharks (12-) is scared to go to into Lynn St, I can't pick them.
Zingari (12-) get it done in the meaningless encounter at the cemetery with Pirates.
The last word
Are the Eels the last team to default since Varsity B?
And we know what happened to them?
How the mighty have fallen.
I was going to name the form XV for the year and the probable Otago squad and haven't done the hugely entertaining report card, so alas, I might be back next week!
- Paul Dwyer
