The Star: March 30, 2023

FOOTBALL
•Men’s Southern League
After five comfortable wins and
lots of goals over the weekend,
the Southern League will likely
see some closer matches when the
second round gets under way this
weekend.
Newcomers to the league FC
Twenty 11 will be in search
of their first win in the competition
when they travel to
Dunedin to play Green Island
on Saturday. Both teams lost in
the first round, with Cashmere
Technical dominating FC Twenty
11 6-0.
Cashmere head coach Dan
Schwarz
said he was
happy
with
how
clinical
his team were against the newest
addition to the league.
“It’s always difficult coming
from preseason, and we didn’t
know too much about FC but we
definitely showed our class on the
day,” he said.
Last year’s golden boot winner
Garbhan Coughlan (right) netted
four goals for Cashmere, two of
them within three minutes in the
second half.
Declan Tyndall and promising
young striker, Zander Edwards
also scored for Cashmere. They
will travel to Nelson to take on
Nelson Suburbs – who finished
third last year – on Sunday.
“Nelson’s always a difficult
one,” Schwarz said.
“The pitch is always heavy
to play on, especially after the
weather we’ve had this week. Nelson
also have a very good squad
at home, and it’s usually a tight
battle with them.”
Selwyn United will host
Dunedin City Royals at Foster
Park on Saturday. Both teams
recorded large wins
over Nelson
Suburbs
and Nomads at the weekend.
Former Coastal player, Liam
Coleman scored the first goal
for Selwyn, with Scott Mc-
Kay picking up another
later in the first half.
Jamie Carrodus
and Darius van
Wyk added
more goals
to give
the home
team a
4-1 win.
Nomads will take on Ferrymead
Bays at home on Saturday following
their 3-0 loss to Dunedin City
Royals. Ferrymead beat the Tulett
Park-based team in their two
encounters last season and will
be confident of making it three
in a row against Nomads after
last weekend’s 3-0 win against
Coastal Spirit.
Latest Canterbury news at starnews.co.nz
MATCH-UPS: The Linwood Keas face the Northern Bulldogs on Saturday, while the Eastern Eagles will take on Hornby.
PHOTO: SHAUN ASI
Football and league
seasons in full swing
The first rounds of the Southern League and Canterbury Rugby League premiership
saw some close contests and comfortable wins. Jaime Cunningham looks at the
key clashes this weekend
PHOTO: DUST
MEDIA/MITCHELL
COZZONE
Defending champions
Christchurch
United produced a
3-0 win over Green
Island after leading
2-0 at the half. They
will take on Coastal
Spirit at Linfield Park
on Sunday. The two
sides haven’t met in the
league since June last
year, when Christchurch
were clinical during their 4-0
win on Coastal’s home ground.
•Women’s South Island
Qualifying League
The newly merged Halswell-
Christchurch United premier
women’s team will take the pitch
for the first time on Monday
night. The top four teams will
qualify for the women’s South Island
League, which will combine
with the top two teams from the
Southern Football competition.
Halswell-Christchurch will
face University of Canterbury
at the United Sports Centre on
Monday. On Saturday, FC Nomads
will travel to Nelson’s Saxton
Oval, while Selwyn United is
set to host Cashmere Technical
at Foster Park. The 2022 South
Island championship winners
Coastal Spirit have a bye.
RUGBY LEAGUE
Round 1 of the men’s
premiership saw two teams
overcome half-time
deficits to win their
season-openers at
the weekend. The
Hornby Panthers
were down 14-0
against
the
Halswell
Hornets
on
Saturday before No 9 Solomon
Alaimalo produced a matchwinning
hat-trick in the second
half. The Panthers took out the
game 26-20.
On Saturday, the Panthers will
take on the Eastern Eagles, who
lost against defending champions,
the Linwood Keas, at home in
the first round. The Eagles will
be looking for momentum when
they take on the Panthers at
Wainoni Park, after they lost an
early lead last weekend and ended
up losing 24-14.
The Keas will take on the
Northern Bulldogs at home on
Saturday. The Bulldogs produced
a solid second half to overcome
the Riccarton Knights 22-12,
after they trailed 12-6 at halftime.
The Hornets travel to
Crosbie Park to play the Knights
after their loss against the
Panthers. Both will be searching
for their first win of the season
before the Easter break after
they lost half-time leads in their
season-openers at the weekend.
Thursday March 30 2023 The Star
SPORT 31
New-look
premiership
down to
six teams
• By Will Evans
THE CLUB rugby league
competition enters its second
round on Saturday with major
changes to how it operates.
The premiership has six teams
this season, Linwood Keas,
Hornby Panthers, Eastern Eagles,
Halswell Hornets, Northern
Bulldogs and Riccarton Knights,
after the Papanui Tigers and
Celebration Lions couldn’t field
premier teams.
The clubs will face each other
three times across 15 rounds.
Triple round-robin play finishes
on July 22.
Said Canterbury Rugby
League chief executive Malcolm
Humm: “Four Massetti Cup
rounds in May and June will
feature a Friday night match
under lights at Ngā Puna Wai.
On Saturday, June 24, Ngā Puna
Wai will host its inaugural ‘magic
round’, with all three premiership
encounters to be played
simultaneously on the venue’s
three rugby league fields.”
The six clubs fielding a premier
grade team have entered a side
in the ISC Canterbury Cup
(premier reserves), joined by
Papanui Tigers, Ashburton
Barbarians, Shirley Hawks,
Burnham Chevaliers and
Greymouth Greyhounds in
what will initially be an 11-team
competition. After one full
round-robin, the top six teams
will remain in the Canterbury
Cup for the remainder of the
season and the bottom five will
recreate the third-tier division
one, which returns for the first
time since 2019. All teams retain
their points from the original
round-robin and, following the
split, will play each team in their
respective grade again.
“In what promise to be among
the most absorbing club matches
of the season, two promotionrelegation
fixtures are scheduled
for August 5 (provided the teams
from the lower grade accept the
challenge),” said Humm.
“The sixth-placed Massetti
Cup team at the end of the homeand-away
rounds will face an
invitational non-premier team
with a place in the 2024 men’s
premiership on the line, while the
sixth-placed Premier Reserves
team will play the top-placed
division one side for a spot in the
2024 ISC Canterbury Cup.”
The women’s premiership
starts on April 16, featuring
reigning champs Linwood Keas,
runners-up Sydenham Swans,
Woolston Rams, Eastern Eagles
and Burnham Chevaliers.
Several appealing initiatives
have been introduced for 2023.
Humm said long-term
objectives centre around
increasing player numbers across
all junior, senior and women’s
competitions.