Rugby: Coastal joint-winners after win against Southern

Photo by: Spinna Photography

Coastal has moved to the top of Taranaki premier club rugby after a 40-29 victory against Southern at the Ōpunake Recreation Ground on Saturday.

That meant Coastal leapt over Stratford-Eltham and secured top spot with Clifton after week 12 of the competition.

The halving of the points has made it tight with several lead and positional changes during the second round with five teams aiming for semi-final status with two weeks to play.  

At Ōpunake, Coastal ran in six tries to five, with Jackson Sinclair able to kick five conversions.

“It was a typical bruising game where both teams threw their bodies at each other for 80 minutes,” Coastal coach Trent Olliver said.

“We had to work hard on both sides of the ball to earn the win.”

It was a much better performance by Southern, who have only picked up two wins and a draw this season.

Their scrum appeared to have an edge over Coastal, but the home team’s backs seemed to have the advantage with their support play evident during the game.

After leading the competition heading into the weekend, Stratford-Eltham slipped down to fourth after a 22-10 loss to Tukapa at Sanders Park.

The loss is the defending champion’s second in a row, after losing to New Plymouth Old Boys at home the week before.

The visitors led 10-0 at halftime and Tukapa played a physical style in the second half to score 22 unanswered points.

Nathaniel Peters scored twice for Tukapa.

Stratford-Eltham had to readjust their team with several changes before kick-off.

At Vogeltown Park, a hat-trick by Old Boys wing Zac McDonald helped his side survive an early lead by United.

The visitors led 19-12 at halftime, but Old Boys found their form helped by the skill of McDonald on his wing to win 45-33.

United attempted to come back late in the game, but it was too late as Old Boys ran in seven tries to five, including two to Josh Perrett.

United loose forward AJ Lemalu earned 50 starts for his side, while Old Boys had a handful of players on limited minutes or missing, who played in Taranaki’s successful Ranfurly Shield defence on Wednesday night.

In the remaining match of the weekend, Clifton were too classy for Inglewood to win 47-25 at TET Stadium.

The visitors scored seven tries to four and Clifton wing Jona Mataiciwa slotted six conversions.

Clifton had a 19-13 lead at the break and got out to a 47-20 advantage before Inglewood scored right on fulltime to narrow the margin.

In next weekend’s penultimate round, Inglewood hosts Tukapa on Thursday night at TET Stadium, United is home to Stratford-Eltham at Stadium Taranaki, Southern host Old Boys at Hicks Park and Clifton plays Coastal at Tikorangi all on Friday afternoon.

The points table after 12 weeks is: Clifton 32, Coastal 32, Old Boys 31, Stratford-Eltham 29, Tukapa 28, United 15, Southern 14, Inglewood 7.