New Zealand club rugby round-up 4 July

The countdown is on towards championship rugby around the country, with semi-finalists having been decided in many competitions.

Semi-finals are being played next week in some competitions, such as Southland, Manawatu, Tasman, Taranaki and Waikato, while in others, such as Hawke’s Bay and Wellington, there’s still two to three weeks remaining in the round-robin season.

In Southland, top qualifier Star will play Woodlands and second and third placed Eastern-Northern Barbarians and Marist will meet in the other knockout fixture.

In last round matches, Marist toppled Star 24-9, Woodlands beat Midlands 32-0 and Eastern-Northern Barbarians beat Blues 60-0, meaning that Pirates-Old Boys, Blues and Midlands will be heading to the beach today.

In Taranaki, the bottom four teams that missed out on the semi-finals would have already been lounging on their deck chairs for the past week if not for a washed out round a fortnight ago.
Next week two semi-finals will both be played in New Plymouth, with top qualifier New Plymouth Old Boys hosting fourth placed Spotswood and Tukapa welcoming third placed Inglewood. NPOB beat Spotswood 31-19 in the last round, and these two teams will do it all again next week after Inglewood beat Clifton 14-9 to leave Clifton finishing fifth and just outside the top four.

With one round to play in Dunedin club rugby, the top three semi-finalists are confirmed with one round to play. Harbour should finish as top qualifier after they smoked Green Island 99-7 and Southern second after they defeated Zingari-Richmond 60-28. Taieri are holding third after beating Alhambra-Union 67-7, while fourth placed University and fifth placed Dunedin have everything to play for next week. University beat Kaikorai 28-25, but Dunedin lost to Pirates 36-17.

In Christchurch, the top four have been found with a week to spare and Lincoln University are guaranteed to finish as top qualifiers for the semi-finals.

Lincoln earned their fourth straight bonus point of the second round, beating second placed Marist Albion 38-16, while New Brighton defeated Canterbury University 47-26 and Christchurch beat Sydenham 27-20.

In Tasman, minnows Nelson shocked Waimea Old Boys 28-26, meaning that Wanderers have locked in top spot ahead of next week’s semi-finals. Wanderers defeated Marist 26-7 in their Nelson Bays contest. In Marlborough, Moutere warmed up for next week’s semi-final against Harlequins with a 35-18 win against the same opposition.

Over in Wellington, Old Boys University made it five from five in this year’s Jubilee Cup to become the first team to officially qualify for the Jubilee Cup semi-finals in a fortnight’s time.OBU beat fifth placed Petone 38-20. The other three playoff spots still need to be determined.

In Manawatu, the semi-finalists for next week’s final round had already been decided. Top qualifier College Old Boys will play fourth placed Varsity and second placed Kia Toa will meet Old Boys Marist. COB had the bye in the last round, but Kia Toa signed off regular season with a 20-27 loss to Varsity. Old Boys Marust defeated Feilding Old Boys Oroua.

In Hawke’s Bay, there are still three rounds to play in the Maddison Trophy before the semi-finals. Credit to the HBRFU for not bowing down to the representative game and not finishing their Premier competition ridiculously early.

Like in Wellington, most teams are still in contention to make the semi-finals. In a congested points table, Napier Pirates lead after beating Napier Tech 26-16, ahead of second placed Havelock North who defeated Napier OB Marist 12-0. Hastings are third after beating MAC 19-15.

In the Bay of Plenty Baywide competition, Te Puke Sports came out on top of Tauranga Sports in their top of the table clash, winning 18-3. Mount Maunganui cemented third with a 34-19 win over Greerton Marist. With one round to play next week before the semi-finals, the five contenders for the top four on the points table are Te Puke Sports 46, Tauranga Sports 45, Mount Maunganui 39, Rotoiti 36, Whakarewarewa 34.

In Waikato club rugby, defending champions Hamilton Marist put themselves in pole position for next week’s semi-finals with a 53-12 win over Te Awamatu Sports. Hamilton Marist will host fourth placed Hamilton Old Boys, who beat third placed University 25-12. In the other semi-final, second placed Otorohanga – who ended their regular season campaign with a 22-68 defeat to Fraser Tech – will host University.

The top for the semi-finals in Counties Manukau has been determined, but the order of finishing will be decided in next week’s final round. Karaka (on 72 points) will be top qualifiers, with Pukekohe (67), Ardmore Marist (66) and Bombay (65) just behind. Karaka beat Bombay 21-15 yesterday, Ardmore Marist edged Manurewa 33-28 and Pukekohe beat Onewhero 37-6.

In Auckland, Grammar Tec stamped their authority on the march to the Gallaher Shield with a 67-12 thrashing of Ponsonby. In the other Alan McEvoy Trophy results, Pakuranga remained hot on Grammar Tec’s heels with a 27-21 win over Papatoetoe, just ahead of University who edged Waitemata 26-21 after scores had been locked up at 14-14 at halftime. In another tight match, the Manukau Rovers defeated Marist 23-17.

In North Harbour Premier rugby, Massey should qualify top, while East Coast Bays and the Western Pioneers will be fighting it out to grab the fourth spot for the semi-finals on 18 July. On Saturday, Massey eased to a 51-10 win over fourth placed East Coast Bays, second placed beat fifth placed Western 34-13, while Glenfield cemented their semi-final spot with a 17-15 win over Takapuna.

With one round to play before the playoffs in the Northland Southern Districts Premiers competition, it remains tight amongst the five sides still in the hunt for the four spots. These being: Wellsford (on 56 points), Mid Northern (53), Otamatea (45), Mid-Western (42), Old Boys Marist (41).

To view the results from the competitions we run, summed up above, and our current Heartland Championship partners Wairarapa-Bush, Wanganui, West Coast, Buller, East Coast and Mid Canterbury (coming shortly) please click on the map of New Zealand on our home page www.clubrugby.co.nz

For a result wrap-up of some other club rugby competitions please see below (note of the results available as at Sunday morning):

Bay of Plenty
Te Puke Sports 18 – Tauranga Sports 3
Te Puna 44 – Waikite 8
Mount Maunganui 34 – Greerton Marist 19
Whakarewarewa 40 – Whakatane Marist 26
Rotoiti 85 – Paroa 0
Rangataua 3 2 – Opotiki 17

Counties Manukau
McNamara Cup
Patumahoe 59 - Waiuku 10
Karaka 21 - Bombay 15
Pukekohe 37 - Onewhero 6
Manurewa 28 - Ardmore Marist 33

Horowhenua-Kapiti
Waikanae 20 – Levin COB 13
Shannon 23 – Foxton 15

Manawatu
Varsity 27 – Kia Toa 20
Old Boys Marist 41 – Feilding Old Boys Oroua 26
Te Kawau 36 –Freyberg 5
Feilding 58 – Linton Army 19

Northland
Southern Districts Premiers:
Mid Northern 47 - Hikurangi 0
Wellsford 40 - Mid Western 22
Old Boys Marist 47 - Western Sharks 5
Otamatea 39 - Kamo 13
Waipu 21 - HoraHora 15
Bay of Islands:
Kerikeri 30 - Ohaeawai 27
United Kawakawa 83 - Kaikohe 12
Moerewa 53 - Kaeo 10
Okaihau 15 - Otiria 10

Otago
Harbour 99 – Green Island 7
University A 28 – Kaikorai 25
Pirates 36 –Dunedin 17
Taieri 67 – Alhambra-Union 7
Southern 60 – Zingari-Richmond 8

Southland
Marist 24 – Star 9
Eastern-Northern Barbarians 60 – Blues 0
Woodlands 32 – Midlands 0

Tasman 
Nelson 28 – Waimea OB 26
Wanderers 26 – Marist 7
Kahurangi 100 – Stoke 3
Waitohi 42 – Renwick 7
Moutere 35 – Harlequins 18

Thames Valley
Cobras 34 – West 29
Bay 15 – Waihi 7
Waihou 21 – North 19

Waikato
Melville 20 - Hautapu 17
Hamilton Old Boys 25 - University 12
Fraser Tech 68 - Otorohanga 22
Hamilton Marist 53 - Te Awamutu Sports 12
Morrinsville Sports 29 - United Matamata Sports 8