St Johns Club Whanganui Metro hunt home semi in Manawatu colts rugby competition

Metro second five Desmond Tyrell continues to be a key player in the side's quest for a home semi.

St Johns Club Whanganui Metro is in must-win mode despite leading the Manawatu McDonald's Colts rugby competition with one match remaining in round robin play.

The 47-7 victory over Dannevirke at Dannevirke Rugby Park at the weekend suggested Metro was on track to win the title in its third season in the competition.

In any normal year Metro arguably would have been favourites, but with Massey Ag pulling pin on the competition, it left the season in disarray.

"Every game is a must win after Massey Ag pulled out and any one of three or four left in the competition could win the title," said Carl Gibson who co-coaches Metro alongside Darryl Malcolm.

"We must beat College Old Boys in Palmerston North this coming weekend to secure a home semi-final. What happens then is the first two teams at the end of round robin this weekend have a bye the following week, while the bottom four play-off for the other two semi spots."

A win over College Old Boys this weekend would also give Metro the Broome Shield for winning the round robin Saturday competition. Metro already has the Evans Cup in the cabinet for winning the quickfire Friday night competition.

College Old Boys has bullocked its way into contention after beefing up a previous weak front row and against the odds beat the tough Feilding side 12-5 last weekend.

"College Old Boys are no slugs and we can't take them lightly this weekend," Gibson warned.

"Feilding are also very strong and stand a good chance at making the final."
Massey White, a team that has dominated the colts division winning every final over the last five or six seasons, languishes at the bottom of the table, yet still has a shot at gold with a return to form in the coming weeks.

In the meantime, a controlled whole team performance gave Metro a solid victory over Dannevirke last weekend.

"We had a pretty good game. It's always hard travelling to Dannevirke and beating them, but we played as a team and came away with a solid win. We ran them off their feet. Prop David Mariner had an outstanding game, while Desmond Tyrell had his usual controlled game at second five."

Gibson also singled out Mairangi Tamehana for praise.

"Normally Mairangi plays lock for us, but we put him in at first five at the weekend. He's a very good versatile player."

Feilding plays bottom of the table Old Boys Marist at the weekend, while Massey White take on Dannevirke.