Southern Lions Champ A team travelled to Arks RUFC new grounds at Harrisdale for the first time. The forecast weather should have been an omen for the tough game that was to come.
Arks played tough uncompromising rugby from the start. Lions enjoyed most of the ball but could not break down strong Arks defence.
Arks enjoyed a 10-5 lead for a good time and it looked like Lions might suffer their first loss of the season. Substitute Dean Kingi had other ideas and some strong hard running led to two great tries and a win for the Lions.

Coach Brett Fell provided the following summary of the game -

"On the same day that the Lions pulled a victory out over the All Blacks to make for a huge game at Eden Park next week Southern Lions 1st grade were pushed to the wire by a hard working Arks side. In wet conditions Arks brought a confrontational game and led 10 points to 5 mid way through the 2nd half. The Southern Lions side dominated territory and possession but did not use that possession well. The team was continually caught behind the gain line and struggled to get momentum in to their game. It took 2 excellent individual runs that resulted tries for Dean Kingi to give the boys the lead. Dean showed in wet conditions there is a need to tuck the ball up and run with real aggression and determination. On top of that Dean who only came on at half time made some excellent powerful tackles and earned player of the day. Supporting Dean up front was Craig Atthis who never stopped trying. The backs struggled in the conditions to execute their plays and give forwards good targets in which to hit and at times their kicking game lacked purpose. All in all the team will take the win as they had to really battle it out and did show that desire to come out on top but hopefully the team has learnt that if you don't turn up with the right mental application and character that makes good rugby players any team can be beaten even if you have won 12 from 12 in the season. Together we need to be better and take more pride in our performance if we are to win this championship."

Team

1. Loose head prop Kingi, Dean
2. Hooker Takulua, Sione
3. Tight head prop Akauola, Heamasi V
4. Left lock Turnbull, Scott L
5. Right lock Toy, Sam
6. Left flanker Woodford, Brad J
7. Right flanker Price, Samuel
8. Number eight Atthis, Craig J
9. Scrum half Perkins, Michael E
10. Fly half Willan, Sheldon R
11. Left wing Lamatoa, Joel A
12. Left centre Cassidy, Beau A
13. Right centre Jackson, Gregory (c)
14. Right wing Cassidy, Daniel
15. Full back Jobe, Dane T
16. Reserve Fell, Kyle
17. Reserve Lamatoa, Nathan I
18. Reserve Hinder, Rawiri M
19. Reserve Meyer, Bruce C
20. Reserve Cleary, Thomas D