Lion Red Fox Memorial

Gee whiz, the bloke that wrote this column last week needs to take himself outside and give himself thirty uppercuts. He picked one from four and that was the Lions over the Hawkes. He reckoned the Sea Eagles would walk it in over Marist. Marist beat them 36/28. He spouted on about how the game between the Tigers and Roosters would probably be a draw, if not, the Roosters would win. Final score in that game Tigers 22, Roosters 18. Finally, he put the mockers completely on East Coast Bays, by suggesting the Bays would win a narrow one over the Otahuhu Leopards. The Leopards kicked their butt 34/14.

Anyhow - onward and upward and four games left in the Round Robin. Getting in to ?must win? territory for some of the lower placed teams. The Lions grabbed back their four point buffer after their win over the Hawkes. The Sea Eagles and the Tigers are sitting on twelve points and looking fairly comfortable. Mangere on ten and Te Atatu on nine make up the balance of the Top Five as at this point. Otahuhu and Marist, both on eight points still have a royal chance of making the play-offs but the Barracudas, on five points, would appear to be gone for the season.

Mangere East Hawkes, at home at Walter Massey Park, take on the Otahuhu Leopards. It is with some temerity that I suggest that the Hawkes should win this one, but there has been some titanic battles between these two clubs over the years and Otahuhu have won their last couple of games.

The Mt Albert Lions match up against the Marist Saints at Fowlds Park tomorrow. The Lions are due for a loss but somehow I don?t think it will be in this one. The Lions obviously have the Rukutai Shield in their sights and will be thinking about the treble of the Roope Rooster, the Rukutai Shield and the Fox Memorial. This game is another Roope challenge.

The Northcote Tigers travel out to Prince Edward Park, Papakura, to do battle against the Sea Eagles. Interesting game this one. Both teams on twelve points and really only fighting for the higher spot on the table and the home semi advantage. It is difficult for visiting teams to win out at Prince Edward and I suspect the Tigers will travel home without the points.

Te Atatu Roosters up against East Coast Bays at Jack Colvin Park. The Roosters will be going all out to maintain or improve their fifth spot. They had every chance to win last weekend against the Tigers but they did not appear to have the hunger. East Coast Bays really are only playing for pride, and they have plenty of that. I?m going for an upset in this one with the Barracudas scoring a win.

All games commence at 2.30pm.