This weekend sees all three men's sides take on Sydenham at LU

Another great weekend of results with all four senior teams picking up valuable wins as the competition heats up. Jim Doyle sums up the Premier Men's and Premier Colts matches against Canterbury University.

MAY 25 2019 LINCOLN UNIVERSITY v UNIVERSITY At Ilam: Lincoln University 63 (Brian Matoramusha 3, Antonio Shalfoon, Tahu Kaa, Ngane Punivai, Kale Thatcher, Fletcher Morgan, Callum Burrell, Jesse Houston, Coel Kerr tries; Sam Gilbert 3 conv; Morgan conv) beat University 8 (Josh Corrigan try; Trent Sherlock pen). HT: 36-3. Referee: Will Todd. 

A bit of a shame really. The clash of the universities used to be a humdinger to look forward to, but times have changed. Still, the city boys will come again. University weren’t that bad. They had all the ball for several minutes at the start and looked promising in their use of it. Then Antonio Shalfoon crashed over for the Rams after a sharp break by Luke Donaldson and the points just kept piling up for the visitors. 

University did get a try heading into the last quarter through right wing Josh Corrigan, who showed a lot of talent. So too at times did Fraser Bryant, who was called in at late notice to wear the No.8 jersey. But they couldn’t make a real impression against Lincoln, who rested or partly rested some front-line players. It came down to no-contest scrums for the final several minutes as University ran out of front-row options. 

The home side would have loved to borrow Troy Hallett. The tighthead prop was one of those rested despite the loss of Dom Devine to a knee injury. Stalwart Ben Crawford stepped into the breach to partner Harrison Courtney and the Rams had Premier Colts player Patrick Thacker as cover. Thacker made an impact when he came on in the second half. Shalfoon had some big moments on the carry and Donaldson put on a top display from halfback with his delivery and sniping runs. Callum Burrell was at his rugged best from hooker until he was subbed off for the last quarter, only for Nic Souchon to continue the pressure on University. 

Ngane Punivai was back and it was no surprise to see him do the business despite often having defenders swarming all over him. Tahu Kaa looked sharp at second-five while Glen Beardsley shone off the openside flank with bursting runs and crunching tackles. Oscar Koller ran the ship well from first-five. But the Ram who stole the show was right wing Brian Matoramusha, not only for his hat-trick of tries. The Zimbabwean showed startling pace when the ball was freed to him and he also used that pace to put pressure on University when they had to go back to retrieve the ball. 

The Lambs were down 7-21 approaching half-time in their premier colts match against Lincoln University. Then impressive No.8 Daniel Johnson notched a sharp try, lock Ollie Donaldson charged down a kick to score and Ryan Barnes scooted across, all in the space of a few minutes at the end of the half. So the Lambs were leading 24-21 at the break and kept the fire burning to win 45-28. Left wing George Coull scored a stunning solo try from 50m out in the second half before centre PJ Latu also showed his class as he shredded the defence to dot down. Johnson, Latu and halfback Freddie Gibson are very much on the radar of the Canterbury under-19 selectors and there’ll be others as well. LU scorers: Ben Thompson, Johnson, Barnes 2, Donaldson, Coull, Latu tries; Thompson 5 conv.

The mighty Wethers continue their unbeaten run, having lost only the one match against HSOB back at the beginning of April, with a dominating performance against the gracious and hospitable Otautahi top team at Bower Park. The sides 97-12 victory exemplifies the teams attacking prowess and their understanding of how to score tries as shown in their 63 point average over their last 6 matches. This Saturday sees a top of the table clash with Sydenham which will guarantee to be a cracker.

Having the BYE this weekend will give the EWES a chance to recover from their tough schedule. They played a much improved Marist/Albion team in a crossover match and came away with a good win 31-10. When they return all eyes will be on the University clash when played at Ilam fields.