Hi ,
Finals Day is approaching very fast, but before I get into that, it would be very remiss of me to not mention our Premier Coach/GDO Trent Renata, and his promotion to Assistant Coach of the Wellington Lions. Trent is returning to his former Team, after 2 Seasons as
Wellington Under-19's and also Assistant Coach for the 2023 Hurricanes Under-20 Team. As a former Maori All Black, Trent knows the way to the top, and I believe he is now ideally situated to bring out the best in Rugby Representatives, as he has done for Tawa. Trent was acknowledged at our recent Old Timers Day, and I know Trent leaves with the best wishes of the entire Tawa Rugby fraternity. We all look forward to watching Trent's progress. Congratulations Trent! Kia kaha
Another of our extended Rugby Whanau, Alama Ieremia, is off to the USA to be involved with the Eagles as the Attack Coach. For those of us who remember Alama in his playing days, "Attack" is definitely Alama's forte. We also wish Alama the best in his overseas pursuit. Guess we know where Akira's next holiday will be.
On to last weekends Quarter Finals. There are some Teams we play each Season and no matter what they are trending prior to playing us, it all changes on the day - Petone certainly heads the list on our "Bogey Team" Games. No different on Saturday. A real tight Game with Petone leading at half-time and for the majority of he second half. But when our Boys got in front, it seems a determination to stay deep in Petone's half was the plan. I was at Nairnville to
present the JC Bowl to OBU Under 85's, and with the Game called off early against a hapless Axemen (139-0), I jumped in my Car and watched the last 10/15 minutes of the Premier Game on my Phone. A brilliant finish. On to OBU for a Semi-Final.
Before I went to Nairnville, I watched our Premier 2's first half against HOBM.. This was also a Quarter Final against a Fourth Placed Team that
just could not get into the Game. Spending a bit of time in the Green Room prior to the Game watching our Boys go through their warm ups, both individually and as a Team, was inspiring. A awesome bunch of young Men enjoying each others company, spreading a rather unique culture and great to be around.
Our Colts travelled to Rugby League Park to play OBU Green, where they
continued to work their way up the Table, now in 4th place. Bit of a hammering for OBU.
The Tawa Ducks had a Default by Wests, which would have been disappointing for the Players and the "Quackers", but just how it is. This weekend the Ducks play OBU Scallywags (as noted above) who finished top of the Table. This could be the Game of the weekend.
Our Reserves gave OBU 69ers a bit of a hammering at Redwood. Good to see Saga and the Boys enjoying their Rugby.
