The last round robin game of the Tasman Rugby League competition was played on Saturday with Motueka Tigers hosting Wairau Taniwha at Cooks Reserve, Riwaka.

Jason Garlick opened the scoring for the Taniwha.  Tana Pouniu and Phil Roberts stretched the lead for the Taniwha to 16-0.  Arikihana Corbett-Burrows got Motueka back into the game with a long range try.    This was followed by Taki Laulu for the Tigers on the stroke of halftime which was converted by Sam Hedges to make the halftime score 16-10 to the Taniwha.  

Taniwha regained their ascendancy early in the second half with tries to Ray Roebuck & Siemena Konelio. Both tries were converted by Simon Duncan to make the score 28-10.  Like the first half, Motueka mounted a comeback with tries to Jone Selestino & Ben Kelly.   Esau Faamanatu got the first conversion but unfortunately the second conversion hit the post and was flagged away. This meant that the score was 28-20 which required the Tigers to score twice in the last seven minutes to win the game.

However Simon Duncan had other ideas and finished the scoring in the game for the Taniwha with a field goal in an effort to run down the clock. This made the final score 29-20 to Wairau Taniwha.

Although this game had no bearing on the final points table, it was a pretty willing game with the players not holding back.  It was a bit untidy in parts as players went away from their structure in search of the big play but overall the crowd was entertained by some great rugby league.

The points table after the round robin games is as follows:

Wairau Taniwha 21 points

Victory Phoenix 16 points

Motueka Tigers 11 points

Congratulations to Wairau Taniwha on taking out the Minor Premiership for 2018 for the 2nd year running.

Next Saturday in our Semi Final, Victory Phoenix host Motueka Tigers at Lower Ngawhatu.  Kick off is at 2:30pm.  Wairau Taniwha get direct entry to the Grand Final on the 14th July out at Champion Green with the winner of our Semi Final aiming to meet Wairau Taniwha in the Grand Final.

If you can’t wait that long for local rugby league action, don’t worry we have our Intermediate Schools Tournament on Tuesday the 3rd July at Champion Green, Richmond. First game is scheduled to start at 10:20am and the final game is scheduled to kick off at 2pm.  Get along and show your support of our Intermediate teams.