The Star: May 24, 2018

36 Thursday May 24 2018
Latest Christchurch news at www.star.kiwi
The Star
Sport
Cynical or just fed up?
IS IT A FAIR statement or have
I just become cynical when I say
that I truly believe there’s more
legitimacy and intrigue in club
rugby than Super Rugby?
Let’s start with the legitimacy
. . . the premier Christchurch
club competition has 12 teams
which play each other once. The
competition is then split into a
top and bottom six. The top six
sides play each other once more
to decide seedlings for the finals.
Your team’s regular season
consists of 16 rounds played
across 15 weeks . . .
Super Rugby used to work on a
formula very similar to this and
it went off without a hitch.
However, the powers that be
enhanced the competition by
increasing the number of teams
(currently 15 teams), which
are split across three unevenly
balanced conferences. This
allowed the Brumbies to secure
a home play-off berth in 2017
by finishing the season with six
wins and nine losses . . . let’s not
even mention the Crusaders
travelling to South Africa for the
final.
In terms of regular season
your team also plays 16 rounds
but is spread across 22 weeks.
Now let’s move to intrigue
. . . the balance of power in
the Christchurch competition
tends to fluctuate from year to
Top of the tables
Massetti Cup (rugby league)
P W D L PD Pts
Linwood Keas 6 6 0 0 116 12
Hornby Panthers 5 4 1 0 40 8
Northern Bulldogs 6 4 2 0 38 8
Halswell Hornets 6 3 3 0 0 6
Celebration Lions 6 2 4 0 -34 4
Papanui Tigers 6 2 4 0 -48 4
Aranui Eagles 5 1 4 0 -54 2
Riccarton Knights 6 1 5 0 -58 2
UC Championship
P W L D BP Pts
Christ’s 3 3 0 0 3 15
CBHS* 3 3 0 0 3 15
Marlborough Boys 3 2 1 0 3 11
Nelson College 2 2 1 0 2 10
Lincoln Combined 3 2 1 0 2 10
St Bede’s College 3 2 1 0 2 10
Rangiora High 3 2 1 0 0 8
SBHS 3 1 2 0 2 6
TBHS 3 1 2 0 2 6
St Thomas 3 1 2 0 2 6
Waimea Combined 3 1 2 0 2 6
St Andrew’s 3 1 2 0 1 5
Mid-Canterbury* 3 0 3 0 2 2
Aoraki Combined 3 0 3 0 0 0
*CBHS v Mid-Canterbury was played after
deadline yesterday.
Metro Premier Cup
P W L D Pts
Lincoln University 8 8 0 0 38
Christchurch 8 6 1 1 33
Sumner 8 6 2 0 32
New Brighton 8 6 1 1 30
Sydenham 8 6 2 0 30
University 8 4 4 0 23
CLUB LEGEND: Sydenham
hardman Reuben Harvey
played his 100th game for
the club on Saturday.
year and other than a couple of
championship candidate v tabledweller
meetings it can be hard
to predict.
THe only predictable downfall
One-eyed Cantab
Gordon Findlater
gordon.findlater@starmedia.kiwi
in recent years is the knowledge
that Lincoln University are likely
to be the team to beat – you can
also thank Super Rugby for that,
but that’s a conversation for
another day.
We should also mention
the Canterbury country
competition, which goes into the
final round-robin this weekend,
has the top four in one section
separated by just two points,
while the other section has five
teams battling for the two final
play-off spots.
Super Rugby has plenty of
intrigue. However, this is going
on the basis you’re watching
a New Zealand derby. Once
again we find ourselves looking
perplexed about the Hurricanes
being fourth in the overall
standings with 14 more points
than the Waratahs in third.
Of the 10 teams outside of the
New Zealand conference just
three teams have a better win to
loss ratio.
Is it just me or is time wearing
thin on how long I can take the
conference system seriously?
Burnside 8 4 4 0 21
HSOB 8 3 5 0 15
Marist Albion 8 2 6 0 11
Shirley 8 1 7 0 8
Linwood 8 1 7 0 7
Belfast 8 0 8 0 3
Mainland Premier League
P W D L GD Pts
Cashmere Tech 11 9 1 0 28 29
Coastal Spirit 11 7 1 3 12 22
Nelson Suburbs 11 6 3 2 11 21
Ferrymead Bays 11 6 2 3 11 20
Nomads 11 6 0 5 4 18
FC Twenty 11 3 1 7 -16 10
Selwyn United 11 0 3 8 -15 3
Universities 10 1 0 10 -35 3
Men’s premier hockey league
P W L D GD Pts
Harewood 5 5 0 0 9 15
Marist 5 2 1 2 4 8
Southern United 5 2 2 1 3 7
Carlton Redcliffs 5 2 2 1 3 7
University 5 2 2 1 -2 7
Fendalton Avon 5 2 2 1 -4 7
HSOB/Burnside 5 0 1 4 -1 4
Hornby Vipers 5 0 5 0 -12 0
Women’s premier hockey league
P W L D GD Pts
HSOB/Burnside 4 4 0 0 18 12
Carlton Redcliffs 4 3 1 0 9 9
Harewood 4 2 1 1 6 7
Marist 4 2 1 1 5 7
H and B Avon 5 1 3 1 -7 4
Hornby 4 0 3 2 -9 2
Southern 5 0 4 1 -22 1
Home ground title
hopes for Cashmere
CASHMERE Technical can win
their fifth Mainland Premier
League title in eight years on
their home turf this weekend.
On Saturday, they host Nelson
Suburbs at Garrick Park where
three points will secure the title.
With three rounds remaining
in the competition, Cashmere
are seven points clear of Coastal
Spirit in second. If Coastal fail
to win their match against FC
Twenty11 then a draw against
third-placed Nelson will also be
enough for Cashmere.
Cashmere travelled to Nelson
last month where they played
out a 2-2 draw.
The competition leaders
racked up their sixth straight
win when they brushed
aside FC Twenty 11 at the
Weekend action
• By Jacob Page
•Metro rugby
This weekend sees a topof-the-table
clash between
Lincoln and Christchurch at the
Christchurch Football Club. A
win for Lincoln would go a long
way to securing top spot given
their five-point advantage, while
victory for Christchurch would
add new spice to the season.
Sumner will look to solidify their
spot in the top four when they
host High School Old Boys. New
Brighton will travel to Sydenham
with both teams currently deadlocked
in fourth after Sydenham
celebrated Reuben Harvey’s
100th game with an easy win
over Burnside. In other games,
Burnside welcome Shirley and
Linwood travel to Belfast.
•Rugby league
Third-placed Northern
Bulldogs will be eager to
strengthen their play-off bid
when they welcome fifth-placed
Celebration Lions to Murphy
Park on Saturday. Linwood
will travel to Papanui eager to
maintain their unbeaten start to
the season, while Riccarton will
host Aranui in the battle to
avoid the wooden spoon.
Halswell will welcome Hornby
in the other game with all
matches scheduled to start at
3pm.
CLOSE:
Cashmere
Technical
need only
three points
to secure the
MPL title on
Saturday.
weekend. Tom Schwarz put
Cashmere ahead early on before
Conor Clarke levelled in the
13th-minute. Daniel Thoms
then replied immediately to
restore Cashmere’s lead. Lyle
Matthysen added a third before
Aaron Clapham scored from
the penalty spot. Matthysen
added two late goals to complete
his hat-trick.
After the final round of the
MPL next month the top five
teams will move onto the newlyreformed
South Island football
league.
•Other round 12 fixtures:
Universities v Ferrymead
Bays, Coastal Spirit v FC
Twenty11, Selwyn United v
Nomads United.
•Men’s hockey
The top four men’s hockey
teams play each other on
Saturday in round-robin action
Top-of-the-table Harewood
look to keep their unbeaten
CPL season alive when they
play third-placed Southern at
Marist Park Turf at 2.45pm.
Second-placed Marist will battle
fourth-placed Carlton/Redcliffs
at the Waimakariri Turf at
1.45pm. High School Old Boys
and Hornby will play each at the
same turf at 4.50pm. Fendalton/
Avon and University will look to
increase their playoff hopes when
they face each other at the Marist
Park Turf at 4.15pm.
•Women’s hockey
Fourth-placed Marist
will look to topple second-placed
Carlton Redcliffs in the latest
round of CPL women’s hockey
on Saturday. The two sides
will likely have the match of
the round at the Waimakariri
Turf at 12.15pm. Competition
leaders HSOB/Burnside will look
to consolidate top spot when
they face sixth-placed Hornby
at the same turf at 3.20pm.
Harewood, currently sitting
third on goal difference, will
look to change that when they
face cellar-dwellers Southern
at the Marist Park Turf at
1.15pm.