Waimate’s comprehensive 36-22 victory over defending champions Celtic will set tongues wagging.

Waimate were better than the scoreline suggested and thoroughly deserved the win.

Those fans from Manchester Park will be hoping the Beri Cup (for winning the first round) will not be the only silverware heading south this season.

The last time Waimate won the senior championships was in 1995, when they went back-to-back.

The 2017 team have an excellent, hard-working pack and a backline to back it up.

Their new coaching line-up of Filifi Fangupo, Palenapa Mafi and Tai Halalele have inspired the team. Mafi was also good enough to spend 60 minutes as a starting prop.

Celtic however are far from done but there will be no cruising to a 10^th successive title.

Both sides were without key players and the loss of key playmaker Willie Wright for a game, due to his third yellow for the season, certainly hurt Celtic.

Waimate however played a clever game and moved Celtic’s massive front row around the paddock, leaving them struggling to impose their usual dominance.

Celtic’s coaching quartet will however have some thinking to do before the two sides meet again.

A quirk of the draw means they could see the two sides meet three times in four weeks at the end of the season if they remain in the top two spots.

The victory means Waimate remain unbeaten in seven games on 34 points (from a maximum of 35 available).

They sit seven points clear of Celtic on 27, who also lost to Mackenzie, with the Rams in third on 23 points.

A resurgent Geraldine sit in fourth on 20 points after seeing off the challenge of Temuka, who sit in fifth.

The Magpies and Pleasant Point however also remain in contention for the top four, but Geraldine do however have the advantage of five home games in the second round, away only to Old Boys and Waimate.

The only sides gone are last year’s finalists Harlequins and the winless Old Boys team.

Harlequins have only managed a single win in the first which has been a surprise, but they have struggled with injuries to key players. It will be interesting to see if they can bounce back and upset one or two in the second round.

Club records updated

Temuka’s Terry Clark is no longer South Canterbury club rugby’s top try scorer. Clark’s 100 senior tries have been usurped by two Waimate legends.

Waimate statistician Tony Stevenson has run the numbers and found halfback Barry Matthews is on top with 118 tries while Glen Gould dotted down 110 times during his 12 seasons and over 200 games. Gould, who was also a handy goal kicker, scored 216 points in the 2000 season to sit just behind Temuka’s goal kicking ace Worrick Norton.

 Norton regularly notched up 200 points a year, including 221 in 1982