A Linwood landslide was the big talking point from round 10 of the Bartercard NZ CRL Men’s Premiership, while ladder-leading Hornby stayed unbeaten, and Halswell and Northern broke clear of the mid-table log-jam to solidify their top-four claims.
The Keas piled on 17 tries in a 98-6 defeat of Papanui Tigers, with Leon Jarden going on a point-scoring rampage.
The fullback landed 15 conversions and crossed for two tries for a personal tally of 38 points. Meanwhile, Uili Uili, Zion Amituanai and Graeme Patu-Vaega’Au all bagged hat-tricks.
The five-time champs led 46-0 at halftime but refused to take their foot off the pedal in an equally one-sided second stanza at Papanui Domain.
The Panthers outlasted a determined Celebration Lions outfit 24-10 at Macfarlane Park. The teams were locked 10-all at halftime, before centre Eti Collins’ second try and yet another 2021 touchdown to young fullback Sincere Harraway helped the Panthers to maintain a two-point gap on the rest of the competition.
Northern Bulldogs were held scoreless in the second half at Crosbie Park, but they managed to hang on for an 18-16 victory over seventh-placed Riccarton Knights.
Last season’s grand finalists scored four first-half tries for an 18-10 lead at the break, while the result saw them finish the weekend in outright fourth position with four rounds remaining – two points clear of the Lions and Eastern Eagles.
The Eagles’ three-match winning run came to a grinding halt courtesy of a 40-12 home loss to the third-placed Hornets.
The Hornets built an 18-point halftime advantage and went on with the job, winger David Watts and centre Nick Evans both finishing with a brace in the seven-tries-to-two success.
BARTERCARD NZ CRL MEN’S PREMIERSHIP ROUND 10 RESULTS
- Linwood Keas 98 (Uili Uili 3, Zion Amituanai 3, Graeme Patu-Vaega’Au 3, Leon Jarden 2, Phil Wahnig 2, Ketasemane Pouli 2, Matthew Sauni, Matthew Molioo tries; Jarden 15 goals) defeated Papanui Tigers 6 (Hayden Tweedie try; Jamie Nicholas goal) at Papanui Domain
- Halswell Hornets 40 (David Watts 2, Nick Evans 2, Iraia de Goldi, Ken Tofilau, Benjamin Davison tries; Jamie Nuttridge 5, Cameron Greig goals) defeated Eastern Eagles 12 (Tyrone Stowers, Uriah Esau tries; Daniel Hartley, Rezyn Timo-Latu goals) at Wainoni Park
- Northern Bulldogs 18 (Nick Wain, Matt Clough, Josh Endacott, Cameron Godfrey tries; Endacott goal) defeated Riccarton Knights (Henry Ah Kuoi, Justin Lynch, Sam Aitken tries; Matariki Halbert-Pere 2 goals) at Crosbie Park
- Hornby Panthers 24 (Eti Collins 2, Sincere Harraway, Daniel Kilbride tries; Caleb Murphy 4 goals) defeated Celebration Lions 10 (Tipazo Aukustino, John Lima tries; Taniela Leka 2 goals) at Macfarlane Park
ISC SPORT CRL CANTERBURY CUP PREMIER RESERVES
Top Six
Hornby Panthers 36 defeated Shirley Hawks 26 at Macfarlane Park
Marist-Papanui 26 defeated Halswell Hornets 16 at Bishopdale Park
Northern Bulldogs 18 defeated Linwood Keas 6 at Murphy Park
Bottom Four
Burnham Chevaliers 48 defeated Eastern Eagles 18 at Wainoni Park
Woolston Rams 28 defeated Ashburton Barbarians 21 at Woolston Park
- By Will Evans
