Rugby: Tournament creator wants all schools in

Robinson Whareaorere was a standout at fullback for Te Puke High School against the Western Heights First XV yesterday.

Five years ago, Otumoetai College head of physical education and co-coach of the First XV Jamie Davis wanted a way to get his team some meaningful pre-season rugby.

He put together a tournament for all Western Bay co-ed schools who missed out on the traditional fixtures and Super 8 that Tauranga Boys' enjoyed.

Davis saw it as a chance to spread the rugby message a little wider among teams who contest the Bay of Plenty secondary schools competitions.

Yesterday the fifth tournament he has organised ended with playoffs at Otumoetai College. But the fact not all Western Bay schools entered and Western Heights had to be roped in from Rotorua to ease the bye situation took a little of the gloss off for Davis.

"I hope that all schools can continue to attend it as a traditional fixture on their calendar," he said. "I think the players in those schools will be disappointed that they weren't able to be there but I am still very happy with the rugby that was played in the tournament.

"We have had beautiful weather and we had good rugby so on that level it has been good. School programmes are tricky when you have to balance summer programmes with the winter programmes and that was definitely a factor with our tournament.

"We struggled to put a team out here on Saturday but you do what you can, especially with tournament week. That was critical with the short term and there was a lot of overlap this year.

"Our tournament is providing a good hit-out for boys and the 20-minute-per-half games on Saturday were good enough for them to get some rugby without burning them out. They also get to play three different schools across the two days."

Western Heights, who play in division one of the Bay of Plenty secondary schools competition, were too strong for division three team Te Puke in the final. Te Puke get to keep the tournament shield for the next 12 months, however, because Western Heights were not eligible to do so.

Te Puke showcased two players to keep an eye on this season in fullback Robinson Whareaorere and livewire openside flanker Taniana Utimawa, while expectations are high that Te Wharekura o Mauao could be favourites to win division one this year. Nearly all the team have been together for five seasons.