Kaiapoi’s win secures semi-final spot

• Published date: 03 June 2021
• Publication title: North Canterbury News

Kaiapoi now faces a semi-final against Southbridge this Saturday, played on the southerner’s home turf.

North Canterbury’s other quarter-finalist and top qualifier Saracens were edged out thanks to an injury-time Prebbleton penalty.

Under threatening skies at Kaiapoi, the home team withstood early attacks on its line to score first with a penalty try. This followed a series of scrums where Kaiapoi achieved total domination.

The Kaiapoi forward domination in the early phases served the side well later in the game at a time after Springston had threatened to take control.

Springston finished the first half the better of the two.

This largely followed Kaiapoi’s attempts to run the ball too often when on defence. For lengthy periods the side was pinned in its own half. Springston scored its first try after Kaiapoi dropped the ball and then, again on half time, after a scrum near the Kaiapoi line.

Springston started the second half with a 14-10 lead and looked like advancing this when Kaiapoi was reduced to 14 players for 10 minutes. Kaiapoi withstood the attacks and its forwards again took control.

With the weather playing a bigger part, and with Springston’s pack tiring, Kaiapoi dominated all phases in the last quarter. Forwards combined with the backline in many raids near the Springston line.

In the final quarter, Kaiapoi scored four tries. All were wide out and followed solid build-ups, with the ball transferring through many hands.

Scoreboard: Kaiapoi 32 (a penalty try, Shak Bassi, Iowane Koroitukana, Kimeon Reade, Robert Dods-Samson tries. Taine Jacobs-Lawson, a conversion and penalty), Springston 14.

Loss for Saracens

The many loyal Saracens supporters who had braved the dismal conditions at Southbrook Park were left shattered at the final whistle.

In the last act of a match which could have gone either way, 19-year-old Prebbleton five-eighth Ted Coleman coolly slotted a penalty from near the sideline and three metres outside the 22 to give Prebbleton a 17-16 win.

Coleman, who has done everything asked of him in his first year of first division rugby in a key position, was immediately swamped by his elated team-mates, who knew they had got out of jail.

While the match was closely contested throughout, it appeared Saracens had done enough to claim the victory as the side led 16-14 as the match went deep into injury time. However, despite having the driving rain at their backs, the Saracens players were not able to play the final stanzas of the match in...