After 15 rounds of rugby, the semifinalists have been found in each of the Galbraith Shield and Ack Soper Shield Southland’s most excellent competitions. In the Galbraith Shield movement, this coming Saturday, pinnacle-of-the-table Marist will play fourth-located Star, while Blues and the Eastern-Northern Barbarians will also meet in Invercargill. Marist, Barbarians, and Star had already locked in a semifinal spot heading into the very last spherical of round-robin games on Saturday. At the same time, Blues needed just one competition point in their ride to Gore to take at the Barbarians.
Blues, however, went one higher, notching up a 22-12 victory after main 17-5 at halftime. The win did no longer just rubber-stamp Blues’ playoff spot. It ensured the go back healthy against the Barbarians seven days later might be played in Invercargill and now not Gore, considering Blues finished in 2d place on the opposition standings. Woodlands had to financial institution a bonus factor victory over Pirates-Old Boys on Saturday to present them the desire of pushing right into a semifinal spot.
Woodlands played their component, notching up a convincing 43-17 win, but because it turns out, they left their 2019 run too late with different consequences on Saturday going towards them. Stags prop Joe Walsh overlooked the Woodlands win after Walsh became crimson-carded the week before. The stand-down changed into decreased from weeks to at least one week on evaluation. Woodlands struggled within the early part of the season, which covered being tipped up through traditional division one group Midlands and driven to the twine through Edendale and Te Anau.
As the season stepped forward, players commenced to filter lower back into the Woodlands setup, and there has been that feeling if they may push their way into a semifinal spot, they might be a threat given the great of the group they have got. Instead, their 2019 campaign is carried out, as is the case for Pirates-Old Boys, who confirmed glimpses in their ability this yr but didn’t win a game through the Galbraith Shield stage of the season. As is the case with the Blues and Barbarians fixture, Marist and Star will square off two times in seven days once they meet in semifinal action.
Marist will head into the game as warm favorites, thinking they have beaten Star twice this season with the cutting-edge tremendous 42-19 victory on Saturday at Waverly Park in Invercargill. Star inspired inside the first half of and trailed 20-19 at halftime; however, while Marist turned with the wind in the back of them, they started to dominate. The advent of Stags hooker Flynn Thomas within the second half also furnished Marist with a significant raise. Thomas had missed the entire club season as they recovered from shoulder harm.
