It was a last-ditch effort by John McGlashan College that gave it a hard-fought win in the Highlanders First XV rugby competition on Saturday.

A try in the corner by winger Feb Laqekoro with four minutes left gave John McGlashan a 26-23 win over Menzies College at Tahuna Park.

McGlashan led 21-15 at the break and the late try gave it the bonus-point win.

Menzies College, in its first year in the competition, fought back in the second spell to lead 23-21 before the late try.

McGlashan had the better of the set pieces, with Tom Scanlon and Clayton Anderson giving them the edge in the scrums and lock Lachie Angland dominating the lineout.

Halfback Toby Batchelor was the best of the backs with his probing runs and strong defence.

Dunstan scored three tries in the last 10 minutes to beat South Otago 36-20 at Balclutha.

It was a match that was divided into three parts. Dunstan dominated the first 15 minutes and led 14-0 after scoring two converted tries. It was then South Otago's turn and it scored three tries and 20 points in the middle part of the game to lead 20-14 with 20 minutes left.

The revival was sparked by good play by winger Gavin Stark who used his speed to set up two tries. He was backed by flanker Jonny Sergeant with his aggressive play at the breakdown.

The last 20 minutes belonged to Dunstan, which ran in four tries. Halfback Tom Docherty led the revival with his probing play.

King's hung on desperately in the last 20 minutes to beat Kavanagh College 17-13 at Kettle Park after leading 12-10 at the break.

No 8 Petelo Faasee used his strength to score two of his side's three tries.

Desperate defence by fullback David van der Byl and halfback Caleb Gray kept Kavanagh out.

The Kavanagh onslaught in the last 20 minutes was led by the inside back combination of John Thorne and Ben Willemsen.

Winger Heydon Pope used his speed to score two late tries to give Southland Boys' a 27-13 win over Gore in the top of the table clash at Invercargill.

Southland Boys' held a 15-13 lead with 10 minutes left before Pope took his chances.

Southland Boys' leads the competition after nine rounds with 39 points and is followed by Otago Boys' 34, King's 33, Gore 31, Waitaki Boys' 30, Dunstan 28, Menzies 18, Kavanagh 17, John McGlashan 12, South Otago 11, St Kevin's 5, Verdon 0.

Otago Boys' beat Verdon College by default and moves to second in the competition, It has two catch-up games to play. King's, Waitaki Boys' and St Kevin's have a game in hand.