Rugby: Bay joint champs after thrilling draw in final

Bay of Plenty Roller Mills team celebrate after the final against Auckland East. Photo / Supplied

Bay of Plenty have jointly won the 2015 Roller Mills Tournament with Auckland East, held at Kensington Oval in Whangarei last week.

For the first time in 20 years, the Roller Mills title has been shared between Bay of Plenty and Auckland East after they drew the final 13-13.

Bay of Plenty showed their dominance throughout the week-long tournament, defeating Taranaki 79-0, Counties Manukau 48-0 and Waikato 48-5 in their pool matches. On Friday, Bay of Plenty took on North Harbour in the semifinal and produced an impressive performance winning 51-7. Auckland East faced Waikato and sealed their spot in the final winning 39-15.

Come finals time there was little separating the two teams. Bay of Plenty led 13-8 at the break, but Auckland East pulled it back to draw the match 13-13.

Roller Mills head coach Cliff Honey said the week was a great success.

"We knew from the start of the nine-week build-up we had a talented team, beating the teams in our five warm-up games and again at tournament," he said. "The strength to this year's team was our reserves, everybody had something to offer. Playing Auckland East in the final was a hard-fought battle in sometimes difficult weather conditions.

"Both teams deserved to be in the final and a win would have been great, but a draw was a fair indication of the game. It would be unfair to single out any one player, they all have a great future in the game."

To top off the team's success, five Bay of Plenty players in lock Lesen Huiarangi, flanker Epoki Polaapau, halfback Dawson Smith, first-five Lucas Cashmore and second-five Ethan Stuart were selected in the tournament team.

The tournament is a showcase of the rising stars of rugby and has been running since 1925.