With one round to go before semi-finals, the four teams to battle it out for a place in the 2022 ACL Premier 1 final have been found.

Those four teams – Celtic Auric Electrical A, United KFC A, Hampstead Ray White A and Methven Wareings – have opened up an 8 point gap on the remaining two sides in the competition, Mt Somers Victory Lime A and Rylib Southern Lights, meaning it’s just now a matter of what order they finish in to determine who plays who in the semis.

Celtic A continue to be the team to beat, maintaining their unbeaten record in 2022 with a 36-28 win over Hampstead A on Thursday night, although it was a much closer affair than the last time the two sides met.

United A meanwhile moved in to second spot on the table with one game to go, thanks to a 32-28 win over Mt Somers, while Methven A secured fourth spot for now with a 36-23 win over Southern.

In ACL Premier 2, Allenton A moved well clear of the rest of the field in ACL Premier 2 thanks to a 35-17 win over Celtic Darryl Phillips Motor Company B on Thursday night. They’re on 16 points at the top of the table, while you could almost throw a blanket over the other five teams with everyone still mathematically a chance of making the semis.

Thursday night’s other results saw College A beat Rakaia ProShear 40-18, and Methven EuroAgri B beat Methven Shearmac 34-27, meaning that overall table sees Celtic B second on 9, while Rakaia and College A on 8, Methven Shearmac on 5 and Methven EuroAgri B on 4.

In the final round Methven EuroAgri B play Rakaia, Celtic B play College B, and Allenton A play Methven Shearmac.

Meanwhile in ACL Premier 3, the top-of-the-table clash between Hampstead Ray White B and College Y10A went the way of Hampstead 37-30, while Hampstead Ray White U18 Development were too good for United KFC B, winning 48-25, and College B downed Methven Humm Engineering 31-22.

That means that with one game to go the two Methven teams and College Y10A are through to the semis, with College B and Methven Humm Engineering both still in the running for that final semi-final spot.

Back in ACL Premier 1, next week’s action starts off with Mt Somers Victory Lime A and Southern Rylib Lights facing off for what will the first of two games in a row, with both sides set to play each other the next week too, in a play-off for fifth.

Then the middle game of the night sees Hampstead Ray White A play Methven Wareings A, before Celtic Auric Electrical A face their second top-of-the-table clash in a row, when they take on a United KFC A side now in second spot on the ladder.

Article added: Friday 05 August 2022