{"id":641598,"date":"2026-04-30T23:56:15","date_gmt":"2026-04-30T23:56:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/641598\/"},"modified":"2026-04-30T23:56:15","modified_gmt":"2026-04-30T23:56:15","slug":"rivertons-success-story-brings-community-together","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/641598\/","title":{"rendered":"Riverton’s success story brings community together"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Riverton has made an impressive start to its 2026 Division 1 campaign since stepping up from the Division 2 competition.\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The Riverton Rugby Club is pleasantly surprised. It just might be the success story of the 2026 Southland club rugby season to date.<\/p>\n

After winning the province\u2019s Division 2 competition twice in 2024 and 2025, the 151-year-old club decided to test itself in the Division 1 ranks this year.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s only so many times you can win a division,\u201d coach Tony Perriam told The Tribune about the decision to enter the Division 1 grade this year.<\/p>\n

\u201cI said, let\u2019s step up and see how you go.\u201d<\/p>\n

Through its first five games to start the 2026 season, Riverton has won four of them and looks more than at home at the next level.<\/p>\n

It was actually the game Riverton lost, which was against Wyndham, when Perriam took some real confidence that they belonged in Division 1.<\/p>\n

Wyndham has been a powerhouse of Division 1 rugby for many years and is favoured to take out the title in its 125th jubilee year.<\/p>\n

Riverton lost 27-11 that day, but Perriam liked what he saw from his team.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce we finished that Wyndham game, we thought we\u2019ve got a real show of competing [in Division 1]. [Wyndham] will be the guys in the final at the end.\u201d<\/p>\n

Riverton\u2019s goal is a top-four spot in the eight-team competition, and to date, it is on track.<\/p>\n

While Riverton has won the other four games they\u2019ve played, Perriam acknowledged they have been tight victories.<\/p>\n

Three of the wins have been by five points or less, including the 23-20 victory over Pioneer in Riverton on Thursday night.<\/p>\n

First five-eighth Ben Symon kicked a long-range penalty to put Riverton up 23-20 with about five minutes to play, and Pioneer then had a penalty of its own to level the scores back up but missed.<\/p>\n

The success of the Riverton Rugby Club in recent years is more than just about a rugby team doing well; that success has played a key role in bringing the seaside town together.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe support is amazing. Last night the clubrooms were full, but the week before that they were absolutely crammed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was someone there last night from up in Canterbury, he must have come out to see what Division 1 rugby was like, and he couldn\u2019t believe the crowd that was there. He said we don\u2019t get half the amount [in Canterbury], and this was on a Thursday night.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s like any place, if you\u2019ve got a winning team, they will support it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Riverton has been joined this year by Waikiwi, who has also moved up from Division 2 to the Division 1 competition.<\/p>\n

Waikiwi has shown in 2026 that it can also compete in the Division 1 ranks.<\/p>\n

\u201cWaikiwi are a good side, we\u2019ve played them the last couple of years in the [Division 2] finals and beat them, and they have always been close. They are a good team to play against,\u201d Perriam said.<\/p>\n

On Thursday night, the Kiel McPhee-coached Waikiwi outfit ran up a convincing 47-12 victory over Albion at the Gore Showgrounds.<\/p>\n

In other Division 1 games played on Thursday night, Wyndham beat neighbours Edendale 28-19, while the Waikaka\/Riversdale Vikings had a 28-19 victory over Tokanui.<\/p>\n

The Premier men\u2019s, Premier women\u2019s, and Division 2\/3 grades have the week off this week as many Southland rugby folk turn their sights to shooting ducks on Saturday rather than pacing the footy sidelines.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Riverton has made an impressive start to its 2026 Division 1 campaign since stepping up from the Division…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":641599,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":["post-641598","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-rugby","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/641598","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=641598"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/641598\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/641599"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=641598"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=641598"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=641598"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}