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Otago Daily Times
19-06-2025
- Sport
- Otago Daily Times
Dunedin-Taieri clash could decide trophy
Dunedin wrapped up the Speight's Challenge Shield for the summer when they did enough in the first spell to bag five points against GI. They remain two points clear of Taieri as the round robin only has two rounds to go. I had Southern on my radar as a definite finalist but nobody mentioned that to Kaik as they dished it up to the Magpies at the Varsity Oval and now sit third in the competition. It's still very close though, as they are two points clear of Southern, GI and Harbour. Varsity are five points adrift of them in seventh. Predictably, Taieri subjugated AU by a massive 76 points to stay in touch with Dunedin at the top of the table. Harbour, with lynchpin Rique Miln back at first five, also broke the 80-point mark when they laid waste to Zingers. Miln contributed 40% of their points with a modest haul of 32 points. The biggest game this weekend will be Dunedin-Taieri which could decide the Gallaway Trophy and the No1 qualifier in the mythical six. What happens next? We have two rounds left to determine the six and the order. This is complicated in the fact that we still have points to allocate to the teams that have had the bye in the split round. The teams that finished first, third, fifth, seventh and ninth at the end of the round robin all had a bye. Depending where they finished in two weeks time they will be allocated five, four,three, two or one points. Dunedin will get five points as they can't be caught by the others. Southern and Harbour should fight for the middle seven points. Varsity should probably get the two points and AU will definitely get the one. So where does that leave us? Struggling I'd have thought! Dunedin play Taieri then have the bye. Taieri play Dunedin and Southern. Kaikorai play Harbour and Varsity. Southern play GI and Taieri. GI play Southern and Harbour. Harbour play Kaik and GI. Varsity play Zingers and Kaik. These are teams that are still in the hunt for the six. So then where are we? Slightly better! Dunedin will finish first or second depending on the result of the Taieri game. Taieri would win the Gallaway if they win their remaining games and finish second if they win one. But they could drop back to third or fourth if they go winless. Southern could finish as high as second or as low as fourth. Kaikorai could finish as high as third or as low as fifth. Harbour the same as Southern. Varsity will need to win both to make it, so as high as third or as low as seventh. I'll make a rash prediction for the six in order. Dunedin, Taieri, Southern, Kaik, Harbour, GI, with Varsity to miss. But there are a lot of holes, theories and wild thoughts — it's still too close to call! Down on the farm Word on the street is up north it's the final round this weekend before playoffs. Lads, it's mid-June and from memory you didn't start till late April! Do you not believe in running a proper competition? The top four are already confirmed but it's tight in the top three. Valley lead Excelsior and Athies by three and four points respectively. Old Boys are confirmed in fourth. Kurow and Maheno have the short straw, short season and are short on games. In Central the four have been confirmed with three rounds still to go. Upper Clutha, Alex, Wakatip and the Maggots. Upper Clutha should finish first and the Maggots fourth. It's tight in the middle. In the South the top four is also confirmed with three rounds to go. Clutha are unbeaten at the top, 11 points clear. There are only three points between the next three, West Taieri, Toko and Crescent. In the deep South, with two rounds to go, Pirates Old Boys lead by eight from Woodlands, with a game in hand. It's tight for third and fourth and there are only three points between the Eastern Northern Barbarians, Marist and Star. Other grades In P2s where they go to a top four as they have two weeks off now. Taieri (52) lead GI (46) followed by Harbour (38), Dunedin (33), Varsity (30) and Zingari (27). Thus the top four are not confirmed but really it's a two-horse race. In seniors, Taieri (50) are unbeaten followed by Dunedin (45), Eastern (41) and Pirates (32) back in fourth. They go to semis so you would think Taieri and Dunedin square off in the final. In prem colts they are playing till August 9 and are now on a four-week break. Kaik (50) lead Dunedin (49) by a point. The other teams in contention are Varsity (41) and Southern (37). They should be the semifinalists and I get the feeling there is not much between these teams. Junior Colts also finish on August 9 and the Dunedin Hammerheads (34) lead Kaik (30) with the Dunedin Tigers (21) in third followed by WT (17) in fourth. They will be your top four with the Hammerheads the clear favourites. Tell me it's not true Is the new Otago coach meddling in club rugby already? He is not even here yet I think. Highlander and Dunedin prop Rohan Wingham, who didn't grace the field for the Landers all season, is apparently resting the next two weekends to get himself ready for the Otago NPC campaign? Surely I've got this wrong? This weekend Lost to Max Chu from the Volts at the weekend. How could that have happened? On to Benji Culhane from Otago and the Black Sticks. He's already won because how's this for dedication. Benji is playing for New Zealand at the Nations Cup in Malaysia, where they are unbeaten and playing in the semifinal against South Korea at 1am tomorrow NZ the Otago boys in the team — Benji, brothers Finn and Patrick Ward, and Malachi Buschl — put their heads together to do the picks. Great work lads. Varsity (13+) are at home to Zingers and have to win to remain relevant. Zingers are racking up the injuries so Varsity get the crucial points to stay alive. In the big game, Taieri are at their beloved Eelpit and they love water and mud and will get that in spades. The Sharks (12-) have a few out and go in as decided underdogs but somehow they'll make it 10 straight and wrap up the Gallaway. Harbour (12-) host Kaik at the Goldfish Bowl after coming off a big win last week. Kaik should go in as favourites but Harbour may just get it done. Southern (12-) should bounce back at Bog Bathgate over GI and give themselves a chance of finishing top two but a word of caution: GI will be desperate. Down on the farm I crushed "Dribbles" last week but on to an entirely new scenario this week. Speaking of dedication, I reached out to our Olympic champion and Otago sportsman of the year Finn Butcher by text on Tuesday in Pau (France) where he was competing in a canoe slalom world cup meeting. Sure enough his tips rolled in at 6.30am yesterday. He's also already won in my eyes. Wakatip (13+) should be too strong for the Arrowtown bulls in the local derby to hold on to second spot. Alex (13+) travel to Ranfurly to take on the Maggots and need to win well to prove they are a real shot at the final. The Mighty Matak (12-) are at home to Cromwell and I'm picking they get up.
Otago Daily Times
29-05-2025
- Sport
- Otago Daily Times
Poor handling of transgression
Well, first round for the Speight's Jug, as I've now found out, and Dunedin is the proud recipient of that. I apologise for saying last week it was for the Gallaway Trophy, but in my defence it has always been played lately for the ''round robin'' part of the season. Dunedin came out as though they were on steroids and were up 33 to zip after 20 minutes and things looked bleak for the Eels. They got an absolute serve from ''Yards'' Young at the break and nearly stole the game, going down by only three. Varsity and Harbour banged on 94 points in 80 minutes and Hawks led by one with seconds to go. Who'd be a coach as one of the Harbour boys indulged in a ''tip tackle'' in front of the posts and Varsity delivered a crucial win to remain in contention for the six. Southern posted 80+ on poor old AU to add to their season of misery. The Magpies end up third on the table on countback. Predictably, Kaik proved too strong for Zingers to comfortably sit in sixth spot. This comp is as tight as a drum with 8 points covering the top seven teams. I think nobody goes unbeaten in the next round. We got it wrong The Green Island vs Taieri game from two weeks ago is in the headlines for all the wrong reasons — a citing and suspension. Social media as per usual has bubbled over. I've had a lot of comment from club coaches, officials, supporters (unsolicited) on the goings on. I'm not here to re-litigate the event, that's for judicials and appeals boards. I've seen the video on numerous occasions and we just got this wrong. The incident while not deliberate, was reckless and should have been sorted at the judicial hearing Wednesday week ago. It was a difficult one as the officials missed it thus there was no card. Green Island cited the Taieri player post game. Following the judicial meeting, the player was handed a one-week suspension. Green Island were rightly not happy and appealed to the NZRU. As I write this column (on Thursday afternoon) no decision has been forthcoming. If the Taieri player had received a sentence commensurate with the transgression, say a four-week suspension, the matter would have been done and dusted. Nobody has won out of this, justice for the injured player and our guilty player is being tried four times. Twice by the judiciary, once by media, and by social media. The judiciary system in Otago in my view works pretty well as a rule but we've let ourselves down here. Also the ''secret squirrel'' process used for judicial inquiries makes no real sense. We need to look at what happened and make sure it doesn't recur. The second round The only people who have trouble with the scoring system for the split round of the Prem Competition are the ODT sports reporters and a few supporters. So this is the last time I'll explain it, so read carefully. We've had the first round and every team had a bye which no points were awarded for. In the split round over five weeks, there is two pools, 1, 3, 5, 7, 9 and 2, 4, 6, 8 based on where you finished the round robin. You play across pool, so the first pool will all have a bye and initially no points are allocated for that. At the end of the round 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 points will be allocated to our first pool depending where they finish in the second round. The teams in pool 1 with top team first are Dunedin, Southern, Harbour, Varsity and AU. Simple really, and no correspondence please. Rugby, racing Sunday The last big meeting for the season for Otago Racing Club is on at Wingatui on Sunday starting at 11.30am. All sports clubs are invited to the event and to take part in the Punters Club and associated activities. Just get a hold of Noelle today, she is taking late entries on 022 035 8373 or gm@ There are great prizes and it's always a great day. I hear five rugby clubs are in, including Taieri, GI and West Taieri plus a few other sports clubs. Get involved I'll see you out there. Topp Cup on the farm It's that time of year again when the rugby comps in South and Central Otago are put on hold for the Mighty Topp Cup. This is where the best of South and Central Otago go to war in the annual tribal year it's being played in Alexandra at Molyneux Park. The Topp Cup is at 3pm with the Development game played as the curtain raiser at 1.15pm. There are kids' games late morning and a junior colts and women's development game thrown in. So if you're passing, drop in for a gander. There is no love lost between Central and South Otago when it comes to the Topp Cup. More fauna on the Taieri We all know there is fauna on the Taieri in the shape of Eels but there was another intruder behind the bar in the Taieri Club on Saturday afternoon. A few of the lads were having a beer during the game (shame on you!) when they noticed screaming from the bar and Fred the barman was wielding a softball bat with malice. As the fracas subsided, it came to light he was hunting a nefarious rat although he may have claimed it was just an extraordinarily large mouse. One question? How tough does it get out there on a Saturday night if he's got a softball bat behind the bar? The late mail I hear Southern's other stalwart lock Corban Agar plays his 50th game this weekend — good on ya mate. I also hear the DCC called off practice on council grounds last night because of rain. Calm down team, it hasn't rained for three months! I know it's wet at the Edgar Centre but the grounds are crying out for some of that! This weekend Destroyed Mayor Jules with a perfect 60 points (all games and margins) so he has had a forgettable year — bad luck mate. On to Otago Volts' best ,Thorn Parkes, who is starting out with a –10 differential, so he'll be an also ran come Monday. GI are at home to Varsity out at the Toolbox and chances are the track will be heavy. This game will be very tight as Varsity may have some ''NZU'' players back and GI will have a few Landers out. Green Island are the favourites but I'm smelling an upset as Varsity (12-) are their bogey team. Taieri (13+) are at home to Harbour for the second time in six weeks and the Eels are travelling well despite the narrow loss to the Sharks — they get up comfortably. Dunedin (13+) beat Zingers by 70 a few weeks ago, so go in as favourites. They've got a lot of experience out injured but should prevail. In the last game Kaik (13+) will be all over AU like a cheap suit. Down on the farm I suffered the worst loss of my career to Clark (Yam Fingers) Frew, so still struggling to sleep. Anyways, on to Ernie Muir, one of South Otago's favourite sons. Played rugby and cricket down there forever and was still reffing until recently — much to the horror of visiting teams! We go head to head on Topp Cup games, so I have my work cut out. In the big game I'll take Central (12-) at home in Alex but with no real conviction. In the Development game I'll also take Central (12-) but I'm positive they win. In the women's game, I'll take AU (13+) to beat Central because they need to win something!
Otago Daily Times
22-05-2025
- Sport
- Otago Daily Times
Narrow margins at pointy end of trophy
Man, it's tight at the top heading into the last round of the Gallaway Trophy. There are seven points over the top six teams, with GI leading the way on 27 (as far as they go, bye this week), with Kaikorai in sixth on 20 points. GI, with a hatful of Super players back in, prevailed in the "Battle of the Saddle" with Taieri. But as you'd expect there wasn't much in it. I said last week that Southern would need to monster Kaik up front to win and the Magpies' eight took that to heart and squeezed the Kaik "aorta" into near life-support levels at scrum time. Thus they definitively halted the Kaik run of wins. Harbour finally put some more points on the board for the "Rooster" against AU. AU showed some signs of life by putting up 27 points of their own — so is the tide turning? It's certainly ebbing for Zingers, who coughed up 70 against Dunedin at the Sandpit; their season looks done. They were competitive for 20 minutes, but the last 60 was a painful watch for their handful of supporters present. You could count them on one hand in the clubrooms post game. This is just mean spirited I discussed the "Maroon Peril" last week as Southland continue to loot and pillage club players out of Dunedin. But in the last week, they have gone too far! Zingers' best player over the last month — Aukustino Salanoa, their hooker — wasn't in their side on Saturday and was sorely missed. Apparently he signed with Southland and played for Star at the weekend. Now, I have no problem with them signing players out of club rugby in Dunedin if they aren't going to be picked up by Otago. But to drag them out of a struggling club mid-season is mean-spirited and, another nail for "grass roots" rugby. All unions spout "it's all about grass roots", but frankly this typifies why that is a load of nonsense. Why couldn't he have finished most of his season at Zingari, then moved down? That's already happening with a lot of other contracted players they have got their hands on. Now, I don't know if Zingers "assisted" Aukustino to come down to Dunners, but if so why not compensate them? Is it time for clubs to say enough is enough and take on unions head on? The honest battlers Hame (the Bruise) Toma laces up on Saturday for his 150th game for the Sharks, against the Eels. He played his first game for the Sharks in 2014. I'd shudder to think how many times he has run the ball up since then. Club players all round town will attest to how hard a runner with ball in hand he is. They tape and staple his body together week after week and he plays himself to a standstill. In his early days he was an outstanding openside and one of the great "jackals" over the ball before drifting to No8 in his latter years. Mate, to reach 150 games is a testament to your stamina, resilience, loyalty and ability. Good on ya, stunning performance. Congrats to prop Tafa Tafa for hitting 50 games against GI a couple of weeks ago. Workhorse lock Aron Einarsson also hit 50 last weekend and Taylor Dale from Harbour plays his 50th game, against Varsity this weekend. Well done, lads. Other grades Just thought I'd check in with the competition leaders in other grades. In Prem Women there are only three teams in it, with AU leading from Varsity and Dunedin. Big River make up the four with one win. Any of the top three could win it. In P2s, Taieri lead with a massive points differential of +337 — ridiculous. GI are only a point behind — these two teams will play the final. Dunedin are third, four points adrift, with Harbour a further six points back. In the open grade Taieri and Dunedin are unbeaten and destined to meet in the final. Pirates and Eastern should be in the semis. In Prem Colts Kaik and Dunedin are at the top of the table, with Varsity and Southern a few points back. This should be the top four, but no standout winner yet. In Junior Colts the Dunedin Hammerheads are the only unbeaten team, but the Kaik Undertakers are sniffing at their heels. West Taieri and Dunedin are tied for third, so this should be the top four. The Hammerheads should go all the way. Down on the farm The big result in the country was Matakanui destroying Arrowtown to record their first victory in two years, and on Dean Sinnamon's 100th game presentation. I hope there were no licensing bloodhounds in Omakau on Saturday night; the place would have been humming. Great work lads — perseverance is the key. In the deep south the Pirates Old Boys v Marist game was postponed after the Green & Blacks coach tragically died earlier in the week. Deepest condolences to the family and clubmates of Regan. In the South it's all about Clutha now that West Taieri was tipped over by the Crescent Coalminers at the weekend. In the North Excelsior and Valley rule the roost — well this week anyway! In Central, Upper Clutha lead Alex by a single point in Central, so too close to call. Comings and goings The Explore scoring system is working as well as ever — i.e, it's not. Don't panic — the ODT has come to the rescue. The draws for all grades are back in the paper on a Thursday and the ODT website ( is live-scoring all prem games every Saturday. If you thought you were a chance of getting the 27th and last contract for the Otago NPC team, think again. Word on the street is Liam Coltman has inked his signature on that! This weekend Unbelievably I lost to "Bilbo" from Speight's at the weekend for only my second loss of the round. Llew Johnson from the Otago Volts is still leading with a points differential of +20. So it's back to Mayor Jules this weekend, so thank God I just win! Both Varsity and Harbour are down on numbers this weekend, so this game could easily be a draw! Varsity have players away with NZU and Harbour are battling injuries. I'll take Varsity (12-) to win, as they are due, but with no real conviction. The Eels are at home to Dunedin and the winner of this game will win the Gallaway Trophy, so there is a lot riding on it. Rohan Wingham is playing for Dunedin and Josh Whaanga and Michael Loft for Taieri from the Landers. Dunedin (12-) have the best young lock in NZ in Josh Tengblad coming off the bench, so with that depth they win. Kaik (13+) take on Zingers at the Cemetery and bounce back with a convincing win over the Colours. Southern (13+) will make no race of the game with AU at Bog Bathgate — it only goes one way. Drew with Marty Hurring last week down south but am up against Clark (Yam Fingers) Frew, the mein host of the Speight's Ale in Wakatip, so victory is assured. In the closest game Alex (12-) do enough at home to upset Wakatip. Upper Clutha (13+) travel to Arrowtown and put the Arrow Bulls out in the back paddock. The Maggots (12-) are at home to Cromwell — and they won't get rolled there!
