PREMIER

Star 26 – Blues 28

This mid week game was played in great conditions with Blues shooting out to an early lead with a controversial try, conversion and first converted penalty to make it at 10 - 0 after 10 mins. Star quickly hit back with Sy Waiti's first of his 2 tries. Star then played catch up rugby as the score line grew between the teams. Pedro Bezanilla chased a kick and capaitlaised on the opportunity to add to the score right on full time and with a second try from Sy Waiti kept the score close for a bonus point. Manaaki Selby-Rickett and Morgan Mitchell carried the ball well all game and Kaleb Talamahina had good control of the game at first five. Stand outs in the back line were Fale Iosefa, Pedro Bezanilla and Ben Pope.

Marist 26 – Woodlands 20

As is the case annually in Southland, duck shooting meant the first weekend of May matches were played during the week. Kelvin Hotel Marist Premier took on Woodlands on a mild, dry Wednesday evening. Woodlands made all the early running dominating possession and territory asking many questions of the Marist defence. The green and blacks, playing in their white alternative strip stood up on defence shutting down and scrambling to cover several Woodlands attacking raids. Marist found the going tough with the ball however, as was the case last weekend making a large number of handling errors. Marist were happy to head to halftime just three nil down. The second half again saw Woodlands come out firing and the visitors scored two quick tries to lead 17 nil with just 25 minutes remaining. Cue the comeback! Marist finally managed to begin stringing phases together and added with the injection of 18 year-old halfback Jacob Carmichael off the bench on debut (nephew of Jeremy Winders and Grandson of Bert Winders) got themselves back in the game. It was Carmichael who crossed close to the line to get Marist on the board. A strong scrum led to Phil Halder diving on a loose ball to make the score 17-14, before Curtis Tarrant finished off some great interplay between Lio Tosi and Sio Oneone to make the score 20-19 with 10 minutes to play. 
Marist then went about making their way down the field from side to side. It was again young Jacob Carmichael to the fore again when he set up Keanu Kahukura to score what was the winning try. Marist defended staunchly in the final few minutes to take the win. Final score 26-20. Man of the match was Jacob Carmichael.
Congratulations to flanker Phil Halder who celebrated his 50th match for Marist.

Pirates 12 – Barbarians 13

DIVISION 1

Edendale 24 - Riversdale 22

Perfect conditions in Edendale for night rugby on Thursday night in a game which would see Edendale's backs let loose for some very exciting tries. Two in the first half to Bram Fodie and Connor Millane and one in the 2nd half to Devon McLeod. On the other side it was Riversdale's forwards who kept them in the game with a dominant scrum and a tidy pick and go. Final score 24-22 to Edendale, with player of the Day to Edendale’s lock Riley Ashby and Riversdale awarded it to their winger Tim Mcdonoughue.

Mossburn 12 – Midlands 20

Fantastic display of rugby played in perfect conditions under lights at the Mossburn domain. Mossburn defended well as Midlands attack was relentless in the first half but could not hold Midlands from scoring two tries close to half time. Midlands went into the break up 14 to 3. With good ball handling from both teams, Mossburn started to get the better of Midlands in the second half and closed the gap to just 4 points after a good try to Chris Kenning. Napol Serulelele added some punch in the midfield when coming off the bench as did John Blair in the forwards but couldn't get over the line before the full time whistle went. Midlands also defended well to hold on to the win 20 to 13.

Waikaka 13 - Wyndham 3

Te Anau 14 - Waiau 14

DIVISION 2

Star B 16 – Blues B 27

Blues and Star met at Les George Oval to decide top spot in Div 2b. The game took shape early with both teams showing good structure and plenty of intent to play some entertaining rugby. Blues applied pressure and after crashing over the line for what appeared to be a clear try, resulted in a 5m scrum to Blues. The dominant Blues scrum caused the Star pack to disintegrate and Blues were awarded a penalty and chose to re-scrum. After 5 repeated infringements from the Star scrum, no penalty try was awarded however a yellow card was enforced. Blues scored to take the lead. Continued pressure on a 14 man Star side saw Blues scoring out wide through Shaun Alderdice after a pinpoint cut out pass from Tahi Hura. Star fought back through an unexpected grubber kick which found the Blues defence after a wrong-footed clearance giving Star an attacking lineout which they then capitalised on to score. Star supporters were now getting vocal and the young side were responding. Blues were ahead at half time and both teams were clearly up for the challenge. The second half saw Blues start strongly and in the first 15 minutes witnessing tries to Shaun Alderdice and Connor Morrison to extend the lead for Blues and take control of the game. Star then started to string together plays and the pressure showed when Blues were given a yellow card for repeated defensive penalties in their own 22. Calder White used the numerical advantage to cross for Star. Hand bags at ten paces saw Blues down to 13 men for the rest of the game with another yellow card. Blues down to a 7 man scrum managed to hold Star out from scoring after some pressure applied. The introduction of Ben Muir at halfback and experienced prop Daniel Roberts saw the Blues scrum tear Star apart which lead Blues to close out the game and take a comfortable win 27-16 to take top spot at the end of round 1. Connor Morrison was the stand out amongst a Blues pack that dominated throughout the game.

Marist B 17  - Woodlands B 21

AWS Legal Marist Development took on Woodlands B in the curtain raiser in what was an entertaining match. Marist dominated large parts of the first half, showing some nice touches on attack. Jordan Coutts continued his good form off the tee to help give Marist a 12-7 halftime lead. The second half saw Woodlands start to wear down the young Marist team and in the end their experience showed, taking the win over Marist 22-17. Man of the match for Marist Development was Siaki Taualofa. Great to see a full 22 players stripped for Marist on a Wednesday night.

Albion Excelsior WBD - LBD Waikiwi

DLS 15 - Riverton 24

Tokanui 19 – Pioneer TBC

Wakatipu 40 – Pirates 10

DIVISION 3

Otautau 24 – Mataura 5

Otautau played Mataura Thursday night at Riverton in a top of the table clash with both teams previously unbeaten. The game lived up to the occasion with both sides hitting it up hard with ball in hand and on defence there was bone jarring tackles from the two teams. Halftime saw Otautau leading 12-0 after winning a bit of the territory battle through the educated boot of 1st five Matthew Brame, who shone all night and dictated the play well. Mataura came out firing early in the second half with a well taken try off a messy line out mistake from Otautau bringing the game back to 12-5. This remained this score until the last quarter when Otautau lifted and gained the territory battle taking two well-earned late tries  For Otautau Ryan Sharp, Todd Mcdonald and Gareth Drake had standout games along with ever present Cho Herewini and young fullback Matthew Sutton. Mataura showed what a force they will be in the Div 3 competition and it was great to see the proud club back in senior rugby for 2018.

Bluff 62 – Central Pirates 5

Ohai Nightcaps 52 – Collegiate 24

Balfor-Lumsden  BYE

UNDER 18

Gore High School

Typical local derby challenge between the two local Gore school teams played with a lot of passion and in great conditions in front of a good crowd at Gore Show Grounds resulting in a win to Gore High of 50 - 3. The first quarter was very even before Gore scored three good tries to go into half time with a good lead over a St Peters penalty. The second half started with a St Peters resurgence and only spirited defence prevented tries from several mid-field break outs. Going into the last quarter Gore made good use of ball and got past the advantage line in close several times setting up room for the backs to score a number of good tries. A great step up to U18 rugby from a number of last year’s U15 team to support last years older players. Flynn Robertson played well in the mid-field both on attack and defence in his first U18 game with strong performances from the whole backline. Player of the day points went to Harrison Morton at lock with strong carries with the ball and great defence. Cameron Miller had a perfect start to his season at first five with his typical defence and kicking game and converting 5 of 8 tries scored earning himself 2 POD points. Hayden Michaels also had a great night at openside putting pressure on the St Peters back line earning himself 1 POD point meaning all 3 POD positions went to players in their first year of U18 footy. Next game up is against James Hargest, at Gore.

WOMENS 10’s

Blues

The 4th and final leg of the tens comp kept consistent and dished out more cold weather with a Southerly blast straight of the arctic hitting the ground shortly after Blues kicked off their first game against Marist. Free flowing footy which had been Blue's bread and butter over the last 2 weeks was replaced with up close and direct forward play. Both teams kept the ball tight and as has been the case over the last 2 weeks little separated the teams in the early exchanges. Once Blues were able to get their hands on the ball they started to string some longer passages of play together and with Laura Buckingham directing her forward pack around the park they were soon able to put some points on the board and secured a good win in trying conditions. The 2nd game against Wakatipu saw a break in the hail and Blue's supporters who had been forced to watch from their vehicles were soon on the their car horns as Blues were able to utilise the marginally improved conditions and score out wide through their usual suspects Grace Earland and Erica Stevens. Wakatipu did find some space in behind using the wind but good scrambling defence from Rachel Rule shut this threat down quickly. A great defensive effort with a big tackle count from Hailey Laverty helped Blues score another win. That was to be Blues lot for the day with Woodlans suffering injuries meaning the final game could not be played. This was enough to see Blues take out the inaugural 10's comp for 2018 in what has been a great season for the young side.

Marist

For the final round our women's team had a goal of finishing on a high. After a first up loss against Blues 24 0 our team were able to come back with a 27 5 win v Woodlands and a 15 5 win v Wakatipu. The weather was not the greatest at times but the level and skill of talent on display from every player out on the field was impressive and we hope to continue to build our team and work to improve on our 2nd place finish the next round. Player of the day Jessica Wilson. A special mention goes out to Scott Eade for running this competition and bringing women's rugby back to life and also the Marist rugby club for their support.

Blues 24 - Marist 0

Woodlands 22 - Wakatipu 0

Blues 55 - Wakatipu 0

Marist 27 - Woodlands 5

Marist 20 - Wakatipu 5

Blues vs Woodlands - not played