It was a big weekend of Mid Canterbury Rugby as the teenage and junior rugby got underway for the first week of their season. It was also the fourth week of the Michael Duff Memorial trophy and the Luisetti Seeds Combined competition. The Celtic women's side were in action in the Canstaff Women's Open Grade competition. There were mixed results from our local teams across all the grades. 

In the Luisetti Seeds Combined competition Methven played Lincoln at Methven. This game went down to the wire and the teams couldn't be seperated in a 19-19 draw. Lincoln scored late in the game to tie it up. Methven's lock Manasa Samo was hard to handle as he scored two of Methven's three tries. Celtic played against Kaiapoi at Kaiapoi. This was another close game as Celtic finished up 15-10 victors. Celtic winger Raitube Vasurakuta has continued his amazing start to the season adding another two tries to his tally. Rakaia had a tough game as they played Ohoka at Ohoka. Rakaia fell to a 35-18 loss in a game where their forwards were impressive scoring all three of Rakaia's tries. Hooker, Gordon Hausia, Lock, Dale McAlwee and Flanker, Harry Ashworth were Rakaia's try scorers. Southern had a bye this weekend 

In the Michael Duff Senior B competition, only two of the four scheduled games went ahead. Southern played against Mt Somers at Hinds. Mt Somers was able to come away with a 17-8 victory in a low scoring affair. Mt Somers Second Five Jack Holland-Spinks was the star of the show scoring all 17 of Mt Somers points, scoring a try and kicking four penalties. In the other game of the weekend, Allenton played Celtic at Allenton. The game was a back and forward affair with Allenton eventually winning 26-12. Allenton's Fullback Bryce Elvy was in try scoring form, picking up two of Allenton's four tries.

The Celtic women were in action at Celtic over the weekend against Prebbleton. The game was a close game with both sides trading tries. In the end Prebbleton edged out a 29-15 victory, scoring a couple of late tries to seal the deal. This weekend the Celtic women play the Kaiapoi women's side, which is a massive opportunity for the Celtic women to pick up their first win of the season.

In teenage rugby, we had seven sides in action across Mid Canterbury and Ellesmere. In Colts action, Celtic played against the BDI Colts at Celtic. It was a comfortable 56-29 win for the Celtic Colts in a very well rounded team display. The Combined Colts side played against the Lincoln Colts at Methven. Lincoln came away 59-5 winners in a tough game for the Combined Colts. It was a more positive weekend for our Under 18 Plains side as they played Prebbleton. The Under 18 Plains had a comfortable 34-5 win in which is a good start to their season. Our Under 16 sides had a high scoring opening weekend with all three Mid Canterbury sides scoring over 30 points. The Under 16 side played against Kaiapoi High School Under 16 side and it was one way traffic for the Celtic side as they won 76-0. The Under 16 Plains side had a tougher day at the office losing 48-31 against the Leeston Under 16 side. Lastly, the Methven Under 16 side ran away 52-17 winners against Lincoln. Only one of our Under 14.5 sides played this weekend. The Under 14.5 Alps side had a positive start to their season winning a close game 41-34 against Prebbleton. 

It was also very exciting to see all of our JAB teams running around over the weekend. All our teams from Under 16's to Under 13's were back in ation over the weekend. 

Article added: Tuesday 10 May 2022