Selwyn_Times: July 26, 2023

Latest Canterbury news at starnews.co.nz
Wednesday July 26 2023 Selwyn Times
SPORT 13
Prebbleton holds psychological
edge in bid to beat finals hoodoo
• By Jaime Cunningham
IT’S SET to be a clash of the
titans, when Prebbleton and
Waihora face off for the third
time this season in the Coleman
Shield final on Saturday.
Prebbleton will be chasing
their first shield since 1974
after being beaten in the last
two finals – losing by a point to
Darfield last year.
Prebbleton avenged that loss
with a 24-6 win over Darfield in
their semi-final on Saturday.
Prebbleton have the
psychological edge over Waihora
after beating them twice this
season.
But winning finals has been
Prebbleton’s Achilles’ heel.
As well as losing last year to
Darfield, they also lost the
2021 Coleman Shield final to
Southbridge.
They also lost the Luisetti
Seeds Combined Country final
to Ashburton Celtic 19-7 last
month. But Prebbleton head
coach Simon Fitzgerald said
since that loss his team have
improved.
“We didn’t execute our game
plan in the combined final
earlier this year but we have
really improved in our kicking
game each week since then to
the point that it’s now one of our
main strengths,” he said.
“We’re looking forward to
implementing it this time round
as we aim to go one better.”
Prebbleton scored an
unanswered 24 points against
Darfield to progress to the final,
despite being 6-0 down in the
early stages of the first half.
“We were playing into a strong
Plate semi-finals beckon for Selwyn Schools’
• By Jaime Cunningham
SELWYN SCHOOLS’ will
look to produce a repeat of
their opening round match in
the plate semi-final against St
Andrew’s College on Saturday,
following the team’s 16-15 win
over Timaru Boys’ High.
Selwyn edged out Timaru
Boys’ to climb into eighth place
on the Miles Toyota Premiership
standings and qualify for the
plate semi-finals this weekend.
Leading 11-5 at halftime, Selwyn
were able to hold off a second
half fight-back from Timaru to
take the win.
Billy Duncan made his debut
off the bench for Selwyn in the
clash.
Saturday’s result followed
Selwyn’s 41-27 upset win over St
Bede’s College, who helped the
combined team progress to the
playoffs by beating Shirley Boys’
High 37-7 in the last round.
Selwyn will travel to St
Andrew’s to take on the team
wind in the first half and gave
up some field position early,”
Fitzgerald said.
Despite the mud bath
CLASH: Selwyn centre Brooklyn Dalgety fights off Timaru
Boys’ High defence in the team’s 16-15 win on Saturday.
they beat 31-24 in the first round
of the premiership on May 13.
St Andrew’s finished fifth after
they held off Christ’s College
with a 12-10 win over the
weekend.
conditions, Fitzgerald said
Prebbleton were able to play a
smart game.
“The conditions were
Selwyn Schools’ head coach
Tim Keery believes his team
can “definitely” repeat their first
round win on Saturday.
“Bring on the semi-final versus
St Andrew’s . . . the boys are up
HISTORY:
Prebbleton
captain
Tom Brand
will be
hoping to
lead his
team to
their first
Coleman
Shield win
since 1974
on Saturday.
PHOTO:
CRFU /
JOHN
MCCAW​
horrendous last weekend,
certainly not the weather anyone
wants to play rugby in.
“We played smart rugby in the
CLUTCH: Waihora halfback Jack Hardacre clears the ball and the front row packs down in
their 16-15 semi-final win over Southbridge. PHOTOS: SMR EVENT PHOTOGRAPHY ​
for this one,” he said.
After losing six games in a
row, Selwyn will be searching
for their third consecutive win
against St Andrew’s. The winner
will play either Christ’s or
Marlborough Boys’ College next
weekend.
This season has already been
an improvement for Selwyn,
who finished 10th last year after
their 42-14 loss to Christ’s in the
bowl final. Selwyn take on St
Andrew’s at St Andrew’s College
at 2.45pm on Saturday.
Due to the weather,
the time and venue for
Saturday’s Ellesmere
finals day was still
under discussion before
Selwyn Times’ deadline.
For an update, go to
www.ellesmererugby.
org.nz/Draws-Results/
drawsresultsstandings
right areas in the semi, which
we’ll need to do again this week,”
Fitzgerald said.
Waihora finished second in the
round robin stage due to the 27-
13 loss to Prebbleton two weeks
ago, but sealed their final spot
with a hard fought 16-15 win
over Southbridge on Saturday.
Waihora had an opportunity
to overcome Prebbleton in the
dying minutes of the combined
semi-final last month, but went
down 15-10.
However, Waihora were able
to hold on and claim the final
spot in another nail-biter against
Southbridge on Saturday.
With the two teams tied at
10-10 at halftime, two Waihora
penalties saw the team narrowly
beat Southbridge who could only
manage an uncoverted try in the
second period.
The clash against Prebbleton
will be Waihora’s first Coleman
Shield final since 2020, which the
team lost 40-32 to Southbridge.
Waihora last won the
silverware in 2018. They claimed
the Coleman Shield, Combined
Country title and Murray
Cooper Shield in a dream run
which included winning 18 of
their 20 games.
TARGET:
Selwyn lock
Clark Pithie
is lifted in a
lineout.
PHOTOS:
GRAEME
TILTMAN
•It was also a successful
weekend for Rolleston
College rugby, with the
school’s under-16 side beating
West Melton 29-7 to win the
Combined Country title.
The win was significant for
the school, marking the first
time Rolleston has taken out the
under-16 title.
Rolleston have the
opportunity to gain another
title on Saturday when they
face West Melton again in the
Ellesmere final.