Category: 18s

Last Friday saw the culmination of a tough fought season to find out who our grand final champions were going to be. We were very fortunate to secure such a good venue in the Mangakahia Sports complex to host everybody.

The supporters were really vocal when the two 14s finalists ran out of the tunnel to begin their game. Portland Panthers v Hikurangi Stags was shaping up to be a great game. Hikurangi drew first blood and Latham Hutchinson-Walters was running riot with the Portland defence.

Hikurangi opened their scoring account first and then went on to dominate the first half with some nice touches out wide from Gavin Edwards in the centre and some solid defence from Charme Henry-Turner.

The Panthers must had some inspirational words from coach Riki Shelford as they scored early on in the piece. Richmond Patua made several barnstorming runs and he often took three or four defenders to bring him to ground. This allowed Manny Snooks and Aiden Blowers to work well together and really apply pressure.

Captain Riki Shelford (jnr) was solid on defence and attack and scored two critical tries which eventually secured the win for Portland. The final score was Portland (20), Hikurangi (14).

The second game saw the Otaika Eagles who finished first in the regular season, face the boys from the Valley in Otaua. Both teams were stacked with swords representatives. The heavens opened and made the track greasy, so ball security was always going to be an issue.

Otaika made use of several completed sets and eventually crossed the line. They were well organised with some nice plays off the back of captain Tahu Tawhiwhirangi who linked with Paul Turner to make for some exciting football. Markal Gibbons-Stevens and Ngatai Tongiavalu ate up a lot of meters to set up several close attempts at tries.

Both teams exchanged tries with the score locked at half time. The fullbacks were both tested under the high bomb and Aotea Parata from the Eagles had great hands as did Pene Stevens from Otaua.

Otaua started to gain momentum through a nice partnership from the hooker Bryan Johnson linking up with big Joseph Ngere and Xavier Johnson. Captain Fantastic Kingi Rakete-Tane through some individual brilliance was able to cut through the defence on two occasions to confirm the victory for Otaua.The Final score was Otaua Valleys (32), Otaika Eagles (28).

In the final game we saw the Boys from Northern Wairoa aka the Bulls face up to Marist Brothers. Both teams were slow to settle into a rhythm and there was a bit of ill-discipline that lead to a high penalty count early on.

The Marist outfit looked to be a bit better organised with some silky skills from captain/hooker James Witehera who pushed over from a couple of meters out. The Bulls forward’s were led strongly by Caleb Rusden and Kane Pomare was causing a disturbance on the fringes of the ruck.

The Marist outfit were up at half time and the Bulls must have received a spray because they came out firing with some big tackles which took a bit of the bite out of the Marist onslaught. Nathan Newton and Hori Nathan were in the end a lot more dominating than the Bulls forwards and made numerous busts which lead to a late game gain of momentum which gave Marist the title. The Final score was Marist (28), Bulls (16).

14s Northern Swords Cup – Portland Panthers v Hikurangi Stags – Kick Off 5:00pm

Last week’s semi finals showed two quality games. Firstly, the Portland Panthers defeated the Otangarei Knights in a free flowing affair. The Portland Panthers looked to have a complete team and were in control for much of the game, however the Otangarei Knights were never totally out of the battle, scoring a couple of sublime tries. The Panthers were overall winners 30-14 to book their place in the final.

They are now facing Hikurangi Stags after they defeated the Takahiwai Warriors in a thrilling 38-26 match. The game saw some sublime tries. Lathan Hutchinson-Walters from Hikurangi proved to be the difference, scoring a hat trick and kicking four goals with a couple of beauties from the sideline.

Elijah Taylor Cup 16s – Otaika Eagles v Otaua Valleys – Kick Off 6:00pm

Otaua Valleys are facing the Otaika Eagles to battle out the Elijah Taylor Cup Final. Otaua squeaked through last week’s semi-final against Otangarei, like a Houdini escape. In a game that went from end to end, with never more than four points separating the teams, it looked like the Otangarei Knights had clinched victory when they scored in the corner to take a four point lead, with just one minute to play.

Otaua did a short kick off, managing to snatch the ball away from Otangarei’s grasp, they then put on a number of miracle passes, keeping the ball alive for Osaiasi Kata to storm over the line next to the posts. With time up, the conversion was successful with Otaua winning by 2 points.

Sam McKendry Cup 18s – Northern Wairoa Bulls v Marist Brothers – Kick Off 7:00pm

These two teams have met twice throughout the year, with both games going right down to the wire. Their first game saw a second revival from the Bulls to snatch a 30 all draw. While their last game saw Marist come back in the second half to snatch a 4 point victory. This game is picked to be top quality, fast flowing football.

On a final note please be a good supporter tonight, it’s ok to be passionate, but remember – It’s Not Ok to be An Egg!

There were two other grand finals at Toll on Saturday with the 15s Elijah Taylor Cup and the 18s Sam McKendry Shield.  Muriwhenua were too strong as they took out the 15s final, beating Otaua Valleys 32-6.  However the game was never a blow out, with Otaua displaying they were worthy finalists for the duration of the match.  NZRL Referee Manager who was attendance assessing 16 Year old Northland Referee, Orkena Simon, was blown away by the quality of the game, ”The skill level was superb, you can really see the progression in the understanding of the game in Northland.” he said. Rewi Windelborn-Rawiri from Muriwhenua was named Man of the Match.

In the other final the Otaika Eagles edged out a spirited come back from defending champions Marist Brothers 40 – 32, in an exciting 18s battle.  The Eagles were the pace setters in the game on the back of some barn storming running by Prop Wiremu Barrett, with Stand Off Caleb Aekins directing the show, for his speedy outside backs.  The Eagles got themselves to a dominant 26 – 6 lead, shortly after half time, before Marist fully engaged themselves in the match.  Marist got themselves to within 4 points before Otaika scored the final try to win 40 -32.

For Otaika who are only in the second season after reforming, it was just reward for the hard work put in behind the scenes.  For Junior League it was an amazing display of skills and phsyical prowess as the ball was constantly in action with limited mistakes and sublime skill.  Alex Smits, GM from RLN commented, “It goes to show how the game develops, two years ago almost all Junior League was played as one out football, now we can see teams playing structured sets of 6 with the result entertainment like we saw today.  Gee we have got some talent out there!!”  Player of the Final was Otaika’s Caleb Aekins.