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The home side’s winning streak in Heartland rugby championship grew to 24 with a familiar look to how South Canterbury’s trouncing of Buller unfolded on Saturday.
South Canterbury was again forced to absorb all the early pressure before unleashing its renowned attack in crossing for eight unanswered tries, all converted by William Wright, for a 56-0 scoreline at Raukapuka Reserve in Geraldine.
The difference from South Canterbury’s first two Heartland outings was that the green and black machine was never behind having trailed 7-0 in a 48-14 win over Horowhenua-Kapiti and 14-0 before overcoming King Country 45-21.
The home side again had to soak up immense pressure as Buller, playing with the breeze, belied it’s lowly-ranked status to hammer the South Canterbury defensive line only to narrowly miss several point-scoring opportunities including three very handy penalties in the fifth, seventh and 10th minutes, a fact not missed on the visiting coach.
“In the first 20 minutes we bombed a few opportunities, a few penalties … it would have been nice to go three, six, nine, but we went doughnut, doughnut, doughnut and then score mounts,” Nathan Thompson told The Timaru Herald.
Thompson praised Wright, playing first five-eight with Sam Briggs injured.
“You know he kicked eight out of eight … he’s a fantastic Heartland contributor,” Thompson said.
“He plays really well at this level. When you score eight tries and get 56 that’s all you can ask.”
JOHN BISSET/Stuff
South Canterbury first five-eighth William Wright had a 100% goal-kicking record against Buller, converting all eight tries at Geraldine in the Heartland Championship rugby match.
South Canterbury, sprung to life on cue in the 20th minute with a try to second five-eighth Paula Fifita following some nice work by No. 8 Siu Kakala and left winger Clarence Moli.
The script wasn’t followed exactly and floodgates remained closed for a period as South Canterbury had its wobbles, especially in lineouts and some open play handling that stalled other hopeful attacks plus as an energetic Buller defence that kept the pressure on.
However, Buller’s defence leaked points in a key period just before halftime as South Canterbury scored tries in the 36th (Lisate Folau) and 40th (Clarence Moli) minutes for an unlikely 21-0 halftime lead.
South Canterbury then effectively wrapped up the result with tries in the 5th (Solomone Lavaka) and 10th (Folau again) minutes of the second half. With Wright adding the extras, the score had blown out to 35-0.
Further tries were added by Kakala (17th and 23rd minutes) and Simote (25th minute).
JOHN BISSET/Stuff
South Canterbury fullback Liueli Simote scores the team’s final try in a 56-0 Heartland Championship rugby match against Buller in Geraldine.
Wright said “we got put under pressure in that first 20 … we were hard on defence for that first 20 in the 22 … I’m proud of the zero beside Buller’s name to be honest.”
Wright said the team had spoken about the slow starts.
“We have started slow the last two … we had a couple of opportunities first but yeah then we got put under the pump … it is something we’ve still got to work on, but teams come out hard against us in the first 15, so sometimes it is just about weathering the storm and when it is our turn to strike, making the most of it.”
Coach Nigel Walsh also talked about the first 20 minutes, saying Buller “really took it too us and we had to defend well”.
JOHN BISSET/Stuff
South Canterbury loose forward Solomone Lavaka scores his side’s fourth try of eight against Buller in a Heartland Championship rugby match at Geraldine.
“It would have been nice to have held on to the ball a couple of times when we had the chances in the first 20 minutes… we’ll take a look at those.
“There is always work ons. Our lineout wasn’t quite accurate today… we’ve always got work-ons and we’ll go away and work on that.”
Teams beaten by South Canterbury occupy the bottom three positions on the table, and it will be much tougher this Saturday, defending the Hanan Shield against North Otago in Ōamaru.
JOHN BISSET/Stuff
South Canterbury right-winger Lisiate Folau races towards the tryline and his second try in a 56-0 win over Buller in a Heartland Championship rugby match in Geraldine.
“That’s our test week,” Walsh said.
“It’s Hanan Shield time … we’ve got to get up again, but every week is going to be the same for us, everybody is going to be targeting us.”
Scorers: South Canterbury 56: Lisiate Folau 2, Siu Kakala 2, Clarence Moli, Solomone Lavaka, Liueli Simote, Paula Fifita tries; William Wright 8 cons); Buller 0.
Other results: East Coast 38, North Otago 29; Mid-Canterbury 43, Horowhenua-Kapiti 14; King Country 23, Whanganui 17; Wairarapa-Bush 30, Poverty Bay 24; Thames Valley 30, West Coast 22.
Points table: South Canterbury 15, Thames Valley 14, North Otago and East Coast 11, West Coast and Wairarapa-Bush 10, Poverty Bay and Whanganui 7, King Country 4, Buller 1, Horowhenua-Kapiti 0.
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