As is the case annually in Southland, duck shooting meant the first weekend of May matches were played during the week.  Kelvin Hotel Marist Premier took on Woodlands on a mild, dry Wednesday evening.  Woodlands made all the early running dominating possession and territory asking many questions of the Marist defence.  The green and blacks, playing in their white alternative strip stood up on defence shutting down and scrambling to cover several Woodlands attacking raids.  Marist found the going tough with the ball however, as was the case last weekend making a large number of handling errors.  Marist were happy to head to halftime just three nil down.  The second half again saw Woodlands come out firing and the visitors scored two quick tries to lead 17 nil with just 25 minutes remaining.  Cue the comeback!  Marist finally managed to begin stringing phases together and added with the injection of 18 year-old halfback Jacob Carmichael off the bench on debut (nephew of Jeremy Winders and Grandson of Bert Winders) got themselves back in the game.  It was Carmichael who crossed close to the line to get Marist on the board.  A strong scrum led to Phil Halder diving on a loose ball to make the score 17-14, before Curtis Tarrant finished off some great interplay between Lio Tosi and Sio Oneone to make the score 20-19 with 10 minutes to play. Marist then went about making their way down the field from side to side.  It was again young Jacob Carmichael to the fore again when he set up Keanu Kahukura to score what was the winning try.  Marist defended staunchly in the final few minutes to take the win. Final score 26-20.  Man of the match was Jacob Carmichael.Congratualtions to flanker Phil Halder who celebrated his 50th match for Marist.

AWS Legal Marist Development took on Woodlands B in the curtain raiser in what was an entertaining match. Marist dominated large parts of the first half, showing some nice touches on attack.  Jordan Coutts continued his good form off the tee to help give Marist a 12-7 halftime lead.  The second half saw Woodlands start to wear down the young Marist team and in the end their experience showed, taking the win over Marist 22-17.  Man of the match for Marist Development was Siaki Taualofa.  Great to see a full 22 players stripped for Marist on a Wednesday night.