U85kg National Club Cup Round-Up - 15 August

By Dan Tasker 

The U85kg National Knockout Cup quarterfinalists have been found, with 2021 champions the Southern Bush Pigs still in contention for back-to-back titles.

In what doubled as the Southern Zone final and the last game of round three (the last 16), the Dunedin-based Bush Pigs saw off a late second half charge to beat Christchurch’s High School Old Boys Light Bears 41-36 in Waimate on Sunday.

“On a pearler of a Sunday, it was a golden point thriller in a ding dong battle for the ages. The fuel tanks were bone dry by the end of 80 but Bush Pigs fullback Macka Haugh found some fumes to break the HSOB line and put young piglet Oscar Anderson in under the sticks to win 41-36 in extra time”- Andrew James, Southern Bush Pigs Coach.

They will face the Old Boys University Scallywags (Wellington) in the quarterfinals, after the Scallywags snuck home 18-17 against the Poneke Wanderers a week ago.

On Wednesday, Auckland U85 leaders the Auckland University Debt Collectors made light work of Marist Old Boys 34-7 at Colin Maiden Park to book a quarterfinal against recently crowned North Harbour champions the Takapuna Bombers.

A little further south the Karaka Razzlers (Counties Manukau) were comfortable 32-12 winners over a plucky Kahukura outfit (Bay of Plenty) that had shown plenty of promise a week earlier in their 33-27 win against the Papakura Black Panthers.

However, it wasn’t to be for the visiting team, with Karaka too strong and progressing to meet last year’s beaten quarterfinalists the Upper Hutt Rams in this year’s top eight.

In Hamilton, the College Rifles Bombers (Auckland) were too classy for Melville (Hamilton) in a 31-14 victory, an underwhelming finish to the season for Melville after qualifying top in the Waikato club competition after bombing a home semifinal to Hamilton Marist before being bundled out of the knockout cup by the Bombers.

Funnily enough, College Rifles’ next challenge will be Hamilton Marist after the Bulldogs were victorious against the Ponsonby Pikeys 33-20 at Old Farm Rd in Hamilton.

The Pikeys scored first with an early penalty but there wasn’t much more for the Aucklanders to get excited about in this nail-biter match. While they brought respectability to the score line with two late tries after Marist wrung the changes and received two yellow cards, the Pikeys were left defeated and having to saying farewell to this year's Club Cup, cementing the Bulldogs spot in the quarter-finals.

Quarter-Final U85kg Club Cup fixtures

Saturday 20 August

Southern Bush Pigs v Old Boys University Scallywags, Bathgate Park, 12:30pm

Karaka Razzlers v Upper Hutt Rams, Karaka RFC, 1pm

College Rifles Bombers v Hamilton Marist Bulldogs, College Rifles Park, 3pm

Wednesday 24 August

Takapuna Bombers v Auckland University Debt Collectors, Onewa Domain, 7:30pm

You can see the U85kg National Club Cup draw here