First five-eighth Ricky Stewart was the hero of the Taieri team that bounced back into premier rugby in style when it beat Green Island 21-18 before a vocal crowd of 600 local supporters at Peter Johnstone Park today.
Stewart's accurate boot brought the Plainsmen home in a tight game when he landed four goals from five attempts to score 11 points.
The other key players were the loose trio of Callum Bissett, Jeremy Corliss and captain Erik Vaafusuaga who was playing his 194th premier game for the club.
It was a special game for him because he played another 48 premier games for Green Island during the eight years that the Taieri club spent in the wilderness.
He now shares the record of 242 premier games with Billy Laing (Dunedin).
Taieri regained premier status when it beat University B 42-17 in the promotion-relegation game last year.
Last year's champions Alhambra-Union scored six tries to beat Dunedin 40-29 in a replay of last year's final. Otago representative Karne Hesketh was in superb touch and scored three tries and fellow Speedster Randell Kamea scored two.
A late penalty goal by David Thomson gave University A a narrow 10-9 win over Kaikorai.
Wing Craig Sneddon scored 15 of Southern points when it downed Zingari Richmond 40-8.
Flanker Jason Kelly scored two tries in Harbour's 25-19 win against Pirates.
Points after the first round are: Alhambra-Union, Southern, Harbour 5, University A, Taieri 4, Green Island, Kaikorai, Pirates 1, Dunedin, Zingari Richmond 0.
TAIERI......................21
GREEN ISLAND........18
Taieri 21 (Jeremy Corliss, Danny Loli tries; Ricky Stewart conversion, 3 penalty goals), Green Island 18 (Haua Fleming, Brent Short tries; Shannon Young conversion, 2 penalty goals). Halftime: Green Island 13-11.
Referee: Todd Pullar.
ALHAMBRA-UNION.....................40
DUNEDIN....................................29
Alhambra-Union 40 (Karne Hesketh 3, Randell Kamea 2, Doug Edwards tries; Luke Reihana conversion, Peter Breen conversion, penalty goal, dropped goal), Dunedin 29 (Tumua Ioane 2, Joe Bradley tries; Tili conversion, 4 penalty goals). Halftime: Alhambra-Union 17-16.
UNIVERSITY A .......................10
KAIKORAI..................................9
University A 10 (Jeremy Aldworth try; Brad Nicol conversion, David Thomson penalty goal), Kaikorai 9 (Cam Rutherford 3 penalty goals). Halftime: University A 7-6.
Referee: Doug Rodgers.
HARBOUR ..........................25
PIRATES..............................19
Harbour 25 (Jason Kelly 2, Siaosi Folau, Joel d'Souse tries; Dan Snee 1 conversion; Johnny Hughes penalty goal), Pirates 19 (Warren Kearney 2, Marshall Suckling tries; Glenn Dickson 2 conversions). Halftime: Harbour 17-nil.
Referee: Dave Kennedy.
SOUTHERN.................................40
ZINGARI RICHMOND....................8
Southern 40 (Apelu Alapati, Craig Sneddon 2, Luke Herden, Ollie Spence, Laurie McCowan tries; Sneddon conversion, penalty goal, Hamish McKenzie conversion, penalty goal), Zingari Richmond 8 (Tim Hanipale try; Matt Gordon penalty goal). Halftime: Southern 15-8.
Referee: Jeff Grubb.
