By Matthew Hampsen [Nelson Mail]

Div 1 - Central 42 Marist 16

Tasman Rugby Union’s most coveted men’s trophy has stayed on one side of the Whangamoa’s for two years, thanks to a winning Marlborough team.

Central Rugby Club went back-to-back in 2023 when they lifted the Stuff Tasman Trophy for the second year in a row. They’re now on track to making this season’s semifinals, sitting second on the table after nine games, winning six.

But player coach Quentin MacDonald said the team were’t getting too ahead of themselves following a dominant 42-16 victory over Marist last weekend.

“Our main focus is just trying to do right from the weekend, try and right the wrongs,” MacDonald said.

“That’s probably been something that we always pride ourselves on in Central, just thinking about the next week.”

Though, considering Marist had put 64 points on the board against Moutere the week before, Central’s performance against the Nelson side had been “a bit of turning point” in their season hopes, MacDonald said.

“We just kept it pretty simple during the week, just got back to our basics, and we knew we had to just fight fire with fire and match them up physically up front,” he said.

Central’s 2024 season began by overcoming local rivals Moutere in the Marlborough derby, before dealing Kahurangi their only loss of the season so far.

Now sitting at the top of the table, Kahurangi took revenge on Central when the two sides met again, the blues losing19-28 at Lansdowne Park on May 25.

“I think the early parts of the season, we had quite a few injuries, which I know every team does, so we can’t really read too much into that,” MacDonald said.

Scorers: Marist 16 (Tom Thornalley, Adam Schwass tries; Jarel Hemehema 2 pen) – Central 42 (6 tries, 6 con). HT: 6-14.