Hi ,
Another weekend with some top Rugby all over. The Women's Finals were at NZCIS and Men's Round 12, the penultimate round for the Premiers and Premier 2's. My VP duties took me to NZCIS with the task of presenting the Izzy Ford Cup and Medals to the
Winner of the Women's 2nd division match between Paremata-Plimmerton vs HOBM/Wainuiomata. What a Game! - 17-17 with less than a minute to go. Last Saturday (10 June) Pare-Plim beat HOBM/Wainui 36-10. Just as people were contemplating the extra time play, along with what happens next, HOBM/Wainui scored a try, 22-10. This was a very good Game with heaps of action, very good skills, great spirit and I would suggest a brilliant understanding of the Rules. And the Game was well refereed. It was a
privilege to do the presentation and award the Medals. In my address I noted the growth of play in the Women's Game and as a result, the very good crowds they are now getting to their Games. A credit to the Players, Coaches, Managers and Supporters.
I then presented the Medals to MSP Women who won 36-32 against Petone Women in the Tia Passi Final. The Crowd at
this game was as big as any Premier Game you would be at. It augers well for Women's Rugby in Wellington.
Then on to Paremate-Plimmerton to watch Pare-Plim take on Petone. But before the Game I was invited by the P-P Committee to partake in the presentation of an Australian Test Jersey from 1983, back to the Family of Bruce Watt. This meant a lot to me, as I related a couple of stories
I had about Bruce to his Wife Val and Daughter, Belinda and Bruce's Granddaughter. First off, his Dad, Alec, and my Dad were great Mates in Wanganui. I went to a number of Tests with these Guys and at one of them Alec introduced Dad & I to Bruce. Once I got my Licence, I became the designated Driver on the homeward journey. The other part of the story I related was when Bruce was a Tawa Postie - a job Val said he loved. I used to work shiftwork and would wait for Bruce to come up the street
for our 3 weekly discussion about Rugby. I have no doubt that there are a few Senior Readers out there who shared the same Rugby conversations with Bruce. Bruce also held a Try Record for the most Tries in a Test Match, which was broken by another local Guy, Christian Cullen, many years later. A most enjoyable time with Bruce's Wife and Family.
This was going to be one of the Premier
Games of the weekend, P-P vs Petone. At half time I commented to the P-P President, Brent Touhy, that a betting Man would not put a dollar on the Game at the 40 minute mark. Brent agreed, it was 19-19. God dam those half-time Oranges!! The "Mata" (as the locals say) kicked off and the ball went through the air, collected by the Mata and over in less than 30 seconds. Two more tries in quick succession nailed it. They had broken Petone and went on to a 56-24 drubbing. Also great to meet Joy Gray,
the great Ken Gray's Wife, who presented the Ken Gray Trophy to Paremate-Plimmerton on such an awesome decisive win.
