Coast put on fighting display

A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.

THEY’RE fighters, 43-0 or not.

“We’re proud of them,” East Coast under-18 forwards coach Morgan Wirepa junior said, in the wake of his team’s 43-0 loss to the Wellington Catholic Colleges team at Playford Park in Levin last night.

“We’ve had some very good feedback from selectors and coaches here about our boys’ attitude and skills.

“Our No.8 Carlos Paenga carried the ball strongly and gave us an excellent line-out option, and Tipene Meihana at fullback ran hard from deep.

“Our reserve prop, Anton King, 16, came off the bench and surprised himself with how well he matched huge opposition at scrum-time.”

The Coast shared field position and possession 50-50 with the Catholic schools side in the first half.

Coast blindside flanker Manahi Brooking and openside flanker Chase Morrison-Sheridan put pressure on the Wellingtonians at the breakdown with dogged tackling, while Hori Haenga made a try-saving tackle on the left-wing.

The Catholic Colleges led 14-0 at the break.

While the Wellington side eventually ran away with the game on the scoreboard, the Coast earned the respect of men well-versed in rugby.

“Their hunger and willingness to run the ball, their fight, was amazing against seven or eight of our kids who weigh 110 kilograms,” WCC forwards coach and former Manu Samoa prop Brendan Reidy said.

Marist stalwart Tony Meachen, who selected sevens teams with Sir Gordon Tietjens and coached the championship-winning Wellington sevens team between 1994 and 2006, said: “The Catholic Schools had a high level of interactive skill through training together more often, but we gave one of our jerseys to the East Coast halfback (Cruze Hinaki) as their most valuable player. He played with confidence and had a range of skills. There was a high level of skill with individuals in both teams.”

For the Wellington team, No.8-cum-second five-eighth Chris Hemi scored two tries, and their player of the day was captain and first-five Te Aorere Wanoa.

“They were pretty tough, strong in the tackle, and they didn’t give up on the tackle if we broke the line first-up, either,” Wanoa said.

“They gave it everything they had and we respected them for that.”

East Coast hooker Liam Townsend said: “We pulled together, stood up to them and kept our composure.”

Horowhenua-Kapiti referee Alastair Paton controlled a fast, physical game under lights.

East Coast’s next game is against Horowhenua-Kapiti at Playford Park, Levin, at 12.30pm tomorrow.