Colours keep good times rolling

• Published date: 19 April 2024
• Publication title: Sports Tab

The Sharks, tipped as high-flyers, crashed to their second loss in three starts when unbeaten Zingers scored three tries in the last 15 minutes to snare a bonus point and second spot in the comp. It was their third overtime win in 3 weeks. Kaik batted first with a solid half-century, while Harbour failed to trouble the scorers! They only have a solitary bonus point to show for their first three weeks. Southern lead the comp after collecting their third five-pointer in three outings when they put 40 on the Eels. Taieri were gutsy for 60 minutes but couldn’t keep it going when Southern unleashed its bench. GI remain unbeaten after comfortably dispatching AU at the Toolbox to sit 4th in the standings. The AU Ponies are minus 166 in points differential, so it could be a long season

So where are we at with refs?

Well, I see we are playing a lot of Friday night games this week to ease the congestion, but it means the refs we have are doing more games. This weekend’s issue could be exacerbated by the Hyde St keg party as well! It’s not ideal for club footy, as we did a player survey a couple of years ago and players told us clearly they wanted to play on Saturdays. It’s no good for clubs either commercially, because it means fewer in clubs on Saturdays and creates a disconnect with teams. Brandon Hale, the ref development officer, has set up a series of courses across Otago for associate referees. Yours truly has done part of the course (short attention span!) and will finish it off over the next couple of weeks. Watch Rugby Chat this week (odt.co.nz) for more details. If I can do it, anybody can. A big shout-out goes to John McGlashan, as 43 of their kids have gone through the course. I challenge the other schools and all the clubs...