Central and Kahurangi to clash for Stuff Tasman Trophy

By Nick Jeffrey [Stuff]

The two most consistent sides in this year’s Stuff Tasman Trophy will contest Saturday’s Grand Final after Central and Kahurangi earned hard-fought semi-final victories in Division One Club rugby games played across the region on Saturday.

Both sides have dropped only one game all season and will fittingly meet in the last game of the season at Lansdowne Park on Saturday to determine the 2022 champion, but both were made to work for eighty minutes as Marist and Renwick proved worthy opponents.

Central will host the combined competition final in Blenheim for the first time after holding off Marist 26-22.

After electing to play into the wind for the first half, Central scored early through Nigel Satherly before the accurate goal-kicking of Marist’s Sam Briggs gave Marist a 12-7 advantage. Quentin MacDonald crossed to square the game at 12-all before Briggs’ fifth penalty of the half push the defending champions back in front. Central grabbed the advantage with converted tries either side of halftime to inspirational skipper Braden Stewart and a second to MacDonald to earn some breathing space before Briggs added to his personal tally of 22 points with a converted try to close the game to just four points, where it stayed for the final quarter hour.

Player/coach Quentin MacDonald was full of praise for the way his teammates defended all day.

“Marist always bring their physical style of play and the boys are pretty sore. We made silly mistakes and Marist played a good territory game, but I think the winning of the game was how we scrambled on defence in that first half and only game up threes, not five or seven-pointers,” MacDonald said.

Their opponent on Saturday will be Kahurangi who led from start to finish, scoring four tries in the process to defeat Renwick 29-20 at Cooks Reserve on Saturday.

Kahurangi coach Brendon Smith was very satisfied with his team’s composure on Saturday.

“We did a lot of good things in the first half, but we should have really scored a couple of more tries. We probably just got ahead of ourselves a bit and pushed a bit much at times. But you’ve got to be happy when you score four tries in a semi-final and defensively, we have been outstanding all year,” Smith said.

Having been beaten in last year’s final, Smith said his tactics won’t change a lot this week.

“The key for Saturday will just be staying calm in the big moments and trusting our process. We don’t need to change anything, just stay composed and see how we go,” Smith said.

MacDonald is taking a similar tack in terms of his team’s preparation.

“This week is a great time to reflect on all we’ve achieved this year. We’ve got some experienced heads and won’t change much. We’ve earnt another week and it’s a special time of year so the aim is to enjoy each other’s company and enjoy the whole experience,” MacDonald said.

In Division Two action Stoke confirmed its spot at the top of The Car Company Nelson Bays competition with a hard-fought 25-17 win over Riwaka while Wanderers also secured a home semi-final with a 23-5 win over Huia. Waimea Old Boys Colts also stayed in the hunt for the top four, ending Marist’s season with a 15-10 victory. The Colts team has a catch-up game scheduled for this evening (Monday) against its clubmates Waimea Old Boys needing five points to create a three-way tie with Huia and Riwaka where a count-back will be required to determine the two sides to go through to Saturday’s semi-finals.

Elsewhere, the Valley Stags ended its year with a 35-19 win over Nelson and Collingwood took care of Waimea Old Boys 36-12.

In the Motorworld Marlborough competition, the top four is set with two weeks remaining. Central has followed the lead of its Division One counterparts, earning two bonus-point victories in the space of four days in beating Marlborough Boys College 29-12 last Wednesday before backing up with a comfortable 46-17 win over Moutere to open a six-point buffer at the top of the table.

Waitohi looks in good shape to host the other semi-final in three weeks’ time after holding off Pelorus 38-30 while Awatere took care of business over Renwick 31-7 while Marlborough Boys College bounced back well on Saturday to defeat Harlequins 40-12.

DIVISION 2 POINTS TABLES:

The Car Company Nelson Bays (FINAL): Stoke 47, Wanderers 37, Riwaka 33, Huia 33, Marist 32, Waimea Old Boys Colts 28*, Takaka 25, Valley Stags 16, Collingwood 15, Waimea Old Boys 10*, Nelson 1.

* One catch-up game remaining

Motorworld Marlborough Division 2 (Two rounds remaining): Central 52, Waitohi 46, Awatere 43, Marlborough Boys College 41, Renwick 21, Pelorus 18, Moutere 15, Harlequins 1.