Bay greats turn back clock

Between them, they've played nearly 1200 games for Bay of Plenty.
Chuck in a couple of All Black tests, 20 matches for Wales and 10 for Japan, and the BOP Classics team - playing the curtain-raiser to the Steamers match with Otago tomorrow at Baypark - starts to loom almost as interesting as the main event.
And then you get their opposition for the 5.15pm match. Fresh from one of New Zealand's far-flung outreaches, the Chatham Islands XV is short on match-play but long on enthusiasm.
"It's a bit of a mixture - there are fisherman and farmers, a few conservation workers," Chatham Island coach Phil Seymour mused, as his side arrived today via a flight to Auckland and a bus down to the Maungatapu marae.
"Some of the guys have played a bit of rugby in the past and some have played very little. But the boys are taking it pretty seriously and we've been training for the past two or three months. I guess you could say we're ready to be unleashed!"
What's waiting for the islanders is anyone's guess. Featuring in the Bay Classics lineup are four players - Ron Preston, two-test All Black Gary Braid, Clayton McMillan and Steve Simpkins - with more than 100 games for their union.
The backline contains three former Bay first-fives - Preston, former Japan test star Andy Miller and Dean Jennings - who have 1748 points for the province.
At 48, Braid is the senior figure in the side, edging Preston by a couple of months.
The ageless Preston began his Bay career in 1980 yet still turns out occasionally for Kahukura in club play, while players like Charles Hubbard and Dave Gorrie are more recent representatives.
Then you throw former Welsh player Brett Sinkinson into the mix, with the 37-year-old excited about renewing old combinations.
"It'll be good fun, if only just to catch up with a few guys I haven't seen for a while," Sinkinson, now a busy Tauranga landscaper with a Welsh wife and two small children, said. "It will be quite good to see who actually shows up and more importantly, what sort of condition they show up in - hopefully we'll play quarters or 10mins each way or something!"
Sinkinson has a bit of confidence about his own condition - he's been playing president's grade rugby for Mount Maunganui ever since he came back from seven seasons with the Neath club in Wales in 2005.
Sinkinson was famously embroiled in "Grannygate" with Shane Howarth in 2000 when it was discovered his grandfather wasn't born in Wales as first thought, though he was back playing test rugby when he completed residency requirements eight months later.
Seymour, meanwhile, is bringing 19 players from the Chathams with the rest of the squad coming from all over the country. The contact with the Bay came from former Rangataua player George Ririnui, now the fisheries inspector for the islands.
Famous Chatham Island players include 1922 All Black Robert Mathieson, Waikato hooker Vern Kamo and Kiwis rugby league forward Brendan Tuuta. "There's a lot of Chatham Island lads that make first XVs around the country when they leave to go to school," Seymour said. "There's real talent here."
CLASSIC LINE-UP:
Forwards: Steve Axtens (55 BOP games), Gary Braid (124), Rex George (65), Dan Godbold (18), Dave Gorrie (28), Martin Jones (25), Clayton McMillan (113), Murray McGregor (19), Willie Mellow (1), Dean Oswald (59), Steve Simpkins (101), Brett Sinkinson (67), Piki Thomas (23), Brad Tutua (18).
Backs: Blair Cashmore (11), Cliff Honey (8), Charles Hubbard (21), Dean Jennings (34), Troy Jennings (21), Andy Miller (69), Robert Moon (6), Ron Preston (152), Peter Woods (79).