They recorded a confidence-boosting 35-24 win against Mt Aspiring in the second round of the Southern Schools Rugby Championship qualifiers.
Coach Zane McTainsh was thrilled with the way his side defended at the away match in Wanaka.
"We played them last year and knew that they’re a team that likes to move the ball around," McTainsh said.
"So we just had to make sure that we got around the field, spread out. We got up on defence quite nicely."
Taieri got off to a good start and then held on through some quality defence.
Blindside Max Cross set the standard. He made some strong carries and was busy on defence.
Midfield pairing Hudson Shaw and Sam Robertson were influential, and first five Harper Conley steered the side around the park nicely.
South Otago also had a good win. They beat Wakatipu 47-12 at the Clutha Showgrounds on Wednesday.
Coach Craig Hislop said his team had to work hard in the first half but pulled away during the second period.
"We’d done enough up front and then we used our midfield and pace out wide to score some really good tries," Hislop said.
Second five Max McHaffie was a wall on defence and created a lot for those around him. Fullback Daniel Witt ran in three tries and first five Rahui Valli bagged a brace. One of them was an outstanding individual effort from about 80m out.
He beat a couple of defenders down the touchline, chipped ahead, regathered and ran in to score.
Loose forwards Blake Hyslop and Jared Wallis did a lot of the hard work up front and impressed as well.
In the other games, John McGlashan beat Hokonui Colleges 28-7, St Kevin’s edged Dunstan 26-19 and Waitaki Boys’ ran away with a 63-7 win against Cromwell.
In the South Island Boys’ Schools competition, Southland Boys’ beat Marlborough 59-33 and Otago Boys’ lost to Nelson College 40-21.
King’s play Shirley Boys’ in Christchurch tomorrow.
