Green Island on top in fired-up derby
There was a lot of feeling in the match at Peter Johnston Park on Saturday.
There was pushing and shoving and only some of that was during scrum time.
Taieri dominated for stretches but they made far too many mistakes and were perhaps too one-dimensional on attack.
Green Island had more finishing ability and winger Michael Manson only needs half a yard and he is gone.
The Grizzlies led 14-10 at halftime.
They did not start well, though. They lost a player to the bin in the opening 10 minutes and another late in the half.
Taieri had discipline problems as well.
Josh Whaanga had to spend some time on the naughty step for snatching an intercept from an offside position and Sam Fischli received a yellow in the second half.
The game slipped away from Taieri when Manson made another of his trademark runs in the second half to set up a try for Sam Gilbert. And then Sam Nemec-Vial scooped up a loose pass and ran in from around 60m.
Taieri scored two late tries to close the gap and secure a bonus point.
Whaanga had a good game for Taieri despite his yellow card.
Manson made a difference for Green Island and loose forward Amos Roddick was a standout. — Adrian Seconi Southern 31 Kaikorai 15
Death by scrum.
A bit dramatic perhaps, but it must have felt like that for Kaikorai.
Southern leaned on the heavy-set men up front to set up a 31-15 win at Bishopscourt.
Prop Mike Mata'afa pushes hard enough for two men. Hooker Isileli Otunuku had a strong game around the field.
Hardworking lock Corban Agar and Aron Einarsson added their weight to an impressive scrum, and Harry Taylor popped up exactly where he was needed on defence.
Centre Justin Malifa was dangerous when he got the ball in space.
Kaikorai started strongly, though.
They held on to the ball for phase after phase during the opening few minutes. They went left, right, left and right again.
Eventually, they busted through close to the ruck and halfback Taine Hand got in support and scored.
Kaikorai's ability to use width was propped by their excellent loose forward duo of Slade McDowall and Lucas Casey, who enhanced their reputations.
But the game started to slip away one scrum at a time.
Southern dominated possession and territory. They also dominated unforced errors.
They blew so many opportunities in the first half and went into the break trailing 15-7.
But Kaikorai just did not have an answer for their power up front and Southern scored four answered tries in the second half to secure an important win. — Adrian Seconi Harbour 48 Alhambra-Union 27
A first-half scoring blitz set Harbour up for victory in the Rooster Memorial match at Watson Park on Saturday.
The annual match between Harbour and Alhambra-Union, formerly known as the Ricoh Ross Godman Memorial, played since 2014, now honours both Godman brothers with the death of Roy last year, and has been renamed the Rooster Memorial, as both Ross and Roy were known to many as Rooster.
Harbour fullback Taniela Filimone set the first quarter alight with a scoring blitz in the opening minutes. This was quickly followed by a procession of four further scoring moves for a 31-0 lead after just 20 minutes.
Harbour may have bolted out to a dominant lead, but Alhambra-Union began to regroup.
Their smaller but more mobile pack began to stop the Harbour big men in their tracks.
Halfback Oliver Thode and twin brother William, at first five, made great use of the increasing possession.
Loose forward Connor Aldrich and lock Levi Turoa proved a force in the lineout.
Oliver, who scored twice himself, played a major role in his sides other three tries and was a standout.
He put plenty of pressure on his opposite and Highlander Nathan Hastie.
For Harbour, Filimone was always a danger when running the ball up. While the Harbour defence was outstanding out wide, it was aided by some superb work up front from flanker Toni Taufa, locks Carlos Miln and Boston Hunt and prop Darius Fidow. — Wayne Parsons Dunedin 69 Zingari-Richmond 7
Apart from the opening few minutes, Dunedin totally dominated this game.
They spent large periods of the first half camped in the Zingari 22. They were held up over the line on three occasions and only had a Cam Burgess penalty to show for their early endeavour.
That changed when hooker Liam Arthur Hunt kicked a 50-22 and, from the quickly taken lineout, lock Jamie Mowat crashed over for the converted try to give them a 10-point lead after 17 minutes.
They scored two more tries before halftime to Louis Lepionka (No 8) and fullback Max Webb and that took its toll on a tired looking Zingari pack with still 40 minutes to play.
Dunedin racked up 7 further tries in the second spell with big winger Oscar Schmidt-Uli grabbing a hat-trick. He just had too much pace and power for the Zingari backline.
Lepionka added a second showing searing pace as he scorched down the left wing.
Joe Parkinson the centre scored the try of the game when Dunedin counter-attacked from a turnover 70m out and the ball went through five sets of hands and found Parkinson to cut back in from the touchline to go over close to the posts.
The Dunedin pack controlled the lineouts and dominated possession in the loose and their speedy outside backs didn't squander the glut of possession.
Dunedin flanker Curtis Palmer was everywhere and a menace with ball in hand as was prop Rhys Hughes.
Young No 8 Louis Lepionka showed his full range of skills and extreme pace.
Burgess ran the game and set his outsides away with aplomb.
Schmidt-Uli and fullback Webb took full advantage of that opportunity.
With regular hooker Aukustino Salanoa disappearing to Southland during the week, Zingari really struggled to maintain possession at lineout team and that didn't help.
No 8 Tofatuimoana Solia looked powerful with ball in hand in the first spell and Ben Fakava was the best of the backs. — Paul Dwyer Round 8 The scores
Green Island 26 (Sam Nemec-Vial, Michael Manson, James Arscott, Sam Gilbert tries; Gilbert 3 con), Taieri 20 (Reef Newdick, Morgan Jones, Jack Sexton tries;
Samuel Waitoa con, pen). Halftime 14-10.
Southern 31 (Harry Taylor, Konrad Toleafoa, Wilson Driver, Bede Dodd-Edgar, Mika Mafi tries; Wyndham Patuawa 3 con), Kaikorai 15 (Taine Hand, Slade McDowall tries; Ben Miller con, pen). Halftime: 15-7 Kaikorai.
Harbour 48 (Taniela Filimone, Jeff Ikanei, Taylor Dale, Willie Tufui, Nathan Hastie, Wiremu Brailey, Toni Taufa, Carlos Miln tries; Nathan Hastie 4 con), Alhambra-Union 27 (Oliver Thode 2, Anzac Tipene, Arnold Dinh, Ramesh Khatri tries, William Thode con). Halftime: 36-5.
Dunedin 69 (Oscar Schmidt Uli 3, Louis Lepionka 2, Max Webb, Jamie Mowat, Joe Parkinson, Cam Burgess, Jarius Losefa tries; Burgess 8 con, pen
Zingari-Richmond 7 (Ben Fakava try; Cooper Grant con) Halftime: Dunedin 22-0. Standings P W D L F A B Pts Green Is 8 5 0 3 269 199 7 27 Taieri 7 5 0 2 235 136 6 26 Dunedin 7 5 0 2 234 97 5 25 Harbour 7 5 0 2 189 207 4 24 Southern 7 4 0 3 238 161 7 23 Kaikorai 7 4 0 3 257 187 4 20 University 7 3 0 4 248 223 5 17 Z-Rich 7 1 0 6 179 327 3 7 AU 7 0 0 7 114 426 1 1
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