Barbarians captain Morgan Mitchell, Star captain Lachlan Springford, Pirates-Old Boys captain Greg Dyer, and Woodlands captain Caleb Karangaroa are all heading to Saturday’s Galbraith Shield semifinals. Photos: DEBBIE FAHEY
After 10 rounds of round-robin play, the 2026 Galbraith Shield semifinals have been locked and loaded.
Top qualifiers the Eastern-Northern Barbarians will host Star at Riversdale in one semifinal this coming Saturday, while Pirates-Old Boys and Woodlands will square off at Rugby Park in a repeat of the 2025 Galbraith Shield final.
The semifinals were firmed up on the back of a final round on Saturday, which went as expected and was headlined by Jason Rutledge’s remarkable 300 game milestone for Woodlands.
Woodlands turned it on for the great man at Rugby Park as they blitzed Marist in a brutally dominant first half, as Woodlands led 47-5 at the halftime break.
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Woodlands welcomed back Fletcher Morgan from New Zealand Sevens duties, and he got straight to work at second five-eighth.
Morgan scored two tries and kicked seven conversions in a 24-point haul before being subbed off a matter of minutes into the second half.
As good as Woodlands were, if we were to be brutally honest, the Marist defence was flimsy at best for much of the game.
At one point, Woodlands were 33-0 up after just 20 minutes, and the second 100-plus scoreline of the Southland premier club season looked on the cards.
To Marist’s credit, it halted the onslaught somewhat in the second half and went about scoring three second-half tries to bank a four-try bonus point in a 66-22 loss.
Fletcher Morgan scored 24 points in 42 minutes for Woodlands in his return to Southland club rugby on Saturday. Photo: DEBBIE FAHEY
While Woodlands eye a return to Rugby Park for a semifinal showdown against Pirates-Old Boys on Saturday, Marist’s sights will start to switch to 2027 with the 2026 season now done.
Marist joins Blues as the two teams in the six-team competition who have missed the playoffs in 2026.
For Blues, it had shown some improvement in the second half of the season but ended its campaign on Saturday with a convincing 47-0 loss to Pirates-Old Boys at Oreti Park.
Pirates-Old Boys scored three first-half converted tries to lead 21-0 at halftime before scoring a further four unanswered second-half tries in the 47-0 victory.
While Pirates-Old Boys dispatched Blues nearby at Oreti Park, the Barbarians were doing the same against Star in the other premier game at the venue.
The Barbarians run up a comfortable 47-19 after winger Banuve Dretiverata scored the first three tries of the game.
They scored seven tries to three in total as the competition’s top dogs headed towards the playoffs in good form.
In an intriguing turn of events, Star and the Barbarians will now go at it again seven days later in a semifinal.
If the task proved challenging for Star at Oreti Park on Saturday, it will get even more difficult as they eye a trip to Riversdale to talk on the premier competition’s sole country team.
PREMIER WOMEN
Wakatipu 37, Blues 32
Star 32, Pioneer 10
Marist – BYE
DIVISION 1
Pioneer 22, Riverton 20
Wyndham 29, Edendale 23
Waikaka/Riversdale 46, Tokanui 12
Waikiwi 52, Albion 12
DIVISION 2
Midlands 80, Pirates-Old Boys 0
Mossburn 27, Central Pirates 14
Star 34, Te Anau 27
Woodlands 58, Ohai-Nightcaps-Otautau 40
DIVISION 3
Marist 90, Wrights Bush 5
Drummond-Limehills-Star 60, Blues 7
Wakatipu 39, Bluff 31
Waiau Star 27, Collegiate 7