A great weekend for Finals Rugby. In my other Rugby life, I assisted the WRFU President, Kerry Walsh at Jerry Collins Stadium where the Womens’ Premier grade Final was played between Northern United and Oriental Rongotai for the Tia Paasi Trophy. What a game! It truly was a game of two halves with Norths taking the first half 15-5. Norths were excelling, particularly in the set scrums. The weather in the second half got worse, the
Ories scrums got better and Ories went on to win a very good game 26-15. Joanah Ngan-Woo was judged the Player of the Match by Leo Crowley and received the appropriate Medal from Norths stalwart, Dawn Patelosio.
On to sunny (yeah right) Tawa to see the last 40 minutes of our Premier 2 game. OBU gave our Boys a bit of a hard time in parts. Was it partly due to the weather being the leveller, perseverance to continue on their winning way – or was it the hot showers? Either way our Boys continued on their winning way. Huge showdown this week with “Top of the Ladder” clash with Tawa vs Norths at Jerry Collins Stadium.
After the Prem 2’s, our Reserve side had a game against Ories. Naturally I ventured into the Green Room to greet our Boys along with Saga and Siliva. Siliva said “I have a job for you”. Being the Clubman I am, I replied that I would help in any way I can. Siliva then said “it is a No 7 spot”. Quickly I realised that to say I did not have my boots was a waste of time. But then I kind of realised that Siliva knew of my speed as I sidestepped
out of the room at great pace. Fastest I have moved since forever. Imagine my delight when I saw one of the Boys wearing No 7.
It was a good game with the Referee our own Simon Mellon “putting back into the Game” Good on ya Mate! After the Match once again Kerry Walsh and I teamed up to present Ories with the Mike Copeland Cup. Both Captains made speeches with great respect to each other. As an aside, this is the third time I have seen the Reserves play and I am blown away by the Camaraderie each Team has shown to each other. It appears usual to have combined
photos at the end of the Game. This is Rugby at its best!
At the same time the Reserves were playing, our Premiers were mud-wrestling out at Fraser Park against Avalon. We, like a lot of Supporters, watched the Game on YouTube in the comfort of the Clubrooms. What a mess! Thank goodness the days of taking your Jersey home for Mum to wash have gone. The only redeeming feature for this Game was the fact that Covid Level 2 was in place and as a Supporter you did not want to be Visitor 101 and be
turned away. I am assuming the Coaches did a head count and did not leave any Players under the mud. The only good part was that we did go on to win convincingly.
