Rugby: Poise helps Southern to title

Justin Friedrich, who usually plays No8 made some stunning line breaks down the flanks for Southern during their finals win over Pipiwai. Photo / Michael Cunningham

It had been a while between drinks for division two side Southern, who are deserving 2015 title winners after outplaying Pipiwai 36-22 at Toll Stadium.

Making it to this year's final after finishing third on the table, a 24-18 semifinal win over Kaihu last weekend pitched them into a finals berth ahead of season favourites Whangaruru.

"[It's a] pretty good feeling, [a] young team, it's been a bit of a rough season and that but they've stuck together," Southern coach Ron Walters said.

"This is probably the youngest team that's come to the park here and I'm really proud of them."

Walters pointed to good composure as being vital to his side's preparation and performance.

"We were pretty relaxed, we tried to get here early so they could have a look at the park and told them it was going to be a bigger world out there [at Toll Stadium], so they soaked it up pretty well."

Southern No8 Keven McFarlane and flanker Jeremy Guy managed the Southern forward pack well which helped prove the difference in critical stages of the match.

With the side sticking to their strengths, Walters said he was pleased with the way they implemented their strategy.

"Our loose forwards really kept us in the game and that was our game plan, we had to match them up front to get our backs go forward ball really."

Despite the defeat, Pipiwai coach George Paora said he was happy with the way his boys turned up to play.

"We left everything out on the field today. We know that Southern are a very structured team so we had to play to the best of our ability to win.

"I take my hat off to Southern. They're a really good club, [we] really enjoy their company when we go over there.

"It's the first time for a lot of these boys on this hallowed turf, I think they soaked it up pretty well."