The defending champions beat West Taieri 51-40 in an entertaining game in Outram on Saturday. Clutha dominated the first half as they played with pace, precision and physicality. The teams traded early tries before Clutha capitalised on a yellow card for West Taieri, scoring three tries with the numerical advantage to rush out to a 30-7 lead at halftime. West Taieri raised their efforts in the second half and were a constant threat with ball in hand. They created holes in the midfield and space
out wide and fought their way back into the game. Clutha continued to be clinical, however, and made the most of every attack into West Taieri territory to keep them at arms’ length. Locks Bax and Tate Colley were strong for Clutha, as was prop Panapa Antonio. West Taieri relinquished the Speight’s Jug with this loss. No 8 Conor Lawson and midfielder Pat Hamer were their best on field. Clutha Valley cemented themselves in the top four with a strong 56-24 win over Owaka at
Clydevale. The first half was controlled by Owaka, who kept Valley in their defensive half for long periods thanks to some educated territorial kicking by first five Josh Huddleston. Owaka’s scrum was also hugely dominant, which forced turnovers and penalties. On the stroke of halftime, Valley grabbed an intercept try through midfielder Lachie Moore that gave the hosts a 21-12 lead at the break. As the game opened up in the second half, Valley showed their class and found gaps everywhere. Owaka could only muster
four reserves, and towards the end of the match, they ran out of steam. Heriot kept their semifinal chances alive with a confidence-boosting 41-33 win over Crescent at Kaitangata to put a dampener on the home side’s club day. Crescent looked to be the dominant side in the first half as they made metres with the ball up the middle and their backs found space out wide. Crescent led 25-17 at halftime. After some motivation from coach Clayton Peters, Heriot came out a different side
and played to their ability. Their loose forwards won the breakdown battle, and they found space out wide, where winger Jack Blair helped himself to a hat-trick of tries. Crescent competed for the duration, but goalkicking proved to be an issue with just one successful conversion. Lawrence beat a spirited Clinton side 40-10 at Clinton to add important competition points to their tally. Clinton put in their best performance of the season to trail by just four points at halftime. The second half belonged to
the visitors, who exploited a tiring Clinton side and scored four tries to take the full quota of points available. — Francis Parker
Clutha, West Taieri, Speight’s Jug, Clutha Valley, Owaka, Heriot, Crescent, Lawrence, Clinton, Outram, Kaitangata, Clydevale