Early ANZAC clashes as super round takes centre stage

The Super Rugby Pacific super round at the new Christchurch stadium takes centre stage at the weekend, and top of the south club players are as keen as anyone to join the party.

The third round of the Stuff Tasman Trophy will be played on Thursday and Friday nights this week, to allow teams to enjoy a long weekend and the opening of the long-awaited One New Zealand stadium.

All 10 super rugby teams will play in Christchurch across the weekend, beginning with the Crusaders christening their new home against the Waratahs on Friday.

A number of Tasman club players and coaching staff will head south to support Tasman players in the Crusaders and enjoy the stadium celebrations.

Before that they will be taking care of business at home when Marist and Nelson clash at Trafalgar Park and Kahurangi take on Stoke at Riwaka on Thursday night.

On Friday night, Waimea Old Boys will take its unbeaten start to Blenheim to face a Central side amping for a win after two narrow defeats.

On a sodden Jubilee Park on Saturday, Waimea dispatched Nelson 43-26, again putting the foot down in the second half after holding a narrow lead at the break.

Waimea coach Kaide Whiting praised the work of his team’s forwards against a combative Nelson pack, particularly prop Tom Heywood and second-half substitute Sio Latu. Halfback Codey Grimes and No 10 Campbell Parata directed the side well.

“I knew we could put on the points if we had ball control, and I thought we were pretty outstanding considering the conditions.

“It’s a good start, but it’s only the start of the season.”

Whiting said the match against Central at Lansdowne Park would be another big test, particularly as the players would have to jump in their cars after work on Friday and drive over the hill for the 7pm kick-off.

Defending champions Marist, the other unbeaten side, had a 45-8 victory against Stoke on Saturday. But Marist coach Nic Smith said the scoreline did not reflect how close it was, particularly in the first half when his side led 14-5 and had to soak up a lot of pressure from the visitors.

In-form Marist captain Tom Thornalley grabbed another three tries, to go with the brace he scored in the opening round, and No 8 Siaosi Malimali also grabbed a hat-trick of tries.

Marist now turn their attention to Nelson, who beat them twice in the round-robin last year before they prevailed in the semi-final.

“She’ll be a ding-dong battle with those boys; we’re expecting them to be tough.”

Marist will welcome the return of backs Nic and Timi Sauira and No 8 Joseph Demoni, who played in the Hong Kong 10s tournament last week.

Kahurangi got their first win on Saturday, 29-19 over Central at Sports Park, Motueka.

Kahurangi coach Mike Wells said after leaking more than 60 points to Waimea in the opening round, he was proud of the team’s defensive efforts.

No 10 Jack Grooby had stepped up well in place of Stewart Cruden who is recovering from surgery and faces a long road to recovery after his lower leg was fractured against Waimea.

Grooby was forming a good partnership with young halfback Tyler Edwards from Christchurch club Linwood, who moved north to become the strength and conditioning coach at Nelson College.

Kahurangi’s player of the match was Max Riley, a young flanker from the Waimea Combined schools team, who Wells said had really stepped up in the pre-season, and continued to impress.

By Warren Gamble, Nelson Mail