Whack to Wells leaves Midlands reeling

BY LOGAN SAVORY

Contracted Rugby Southland back Mark Wells was knocked out cold in round one of Southland's premier club rugby competition on Saturday, raising concerns over his future in the sport.

Wells was knocked out when he hit the ground hard while scoring a try for Midlands in the first half of their game against Blues.

The head knock comes hard on the heels of a three-month layoff from rugby Wells had taken when he suffered a knock to the head playing for the Southland development team last year.

Wells was itching to get a roll on in club rugby this year as he attempts to push for a spot in the Stags setup for the national provincial championship.

Just how long this latest incident will keep him out of rugby is uncertain, but the early indications aren't great.

"I'm not too good, I've got some bad headaches today. It's worse than last time," a disappointed Wells told The Southland Times yesterday.

Wells was hoping the headaches wouldn't last long and that this latest knock to the head wouldn't keep him out of rugby for too many weeks.

However, he admitted that he was wary about rushing it.

The loss of Wells early in the game was a blow to Midlands.

The game resembled a preseason outing as both teams struggled to get any flow in their game.

And the rule book obviously hasn't been dusted off and looked at yet because there were constant penalties. The Blues capitalised on this as first five-eighth James Wilson banged over six penalties to produce an 18-13 win for his side.

Star had reason to celebrate on Saturday when they won the Phil "Scruffy" Butt Memorial Shield for the first time.

The shield is contested whenever Star and Woodlands meet for the first time in the club season.

The shield, which is in memory of Phil Butt – who played 100 games for Southland – was first played for in 2007.

Woodlands had won every encounter up until Saturday, when the Waverley Park boys finally got one back during their trip to Woodlands, taking out the game 23-10.

Woodlands' chances received a major setback when they had to play 20 minutes of the game with 14 players, with Kaleni Taetuli and Maifea Maifea both spending time in the sinbin.

Marist made a promising start to the season when they banked a 25-20 win over Pirates-Old Boys on Saturday. The game was a scrappy one but for the young Marist side it will still be a big boost to their confidence.

Young first five-eighth Daniel Neho showed some nice touches as did flanker Matthew Taylor.

Iona Sipa was strong at No 8 as was wing Tai Henry, who banked a brace of tries.

- © Fairfax NZ News