Country comes to town for final

NO PRIZES FOR GUESSING WHICH TEAM THESE FANS SUPPORT: Waikohu supporters were out in full force at last season’s Lee Bros Shield final at Rugby Park, when the men from Te Karaka lost to High School Old Boys. Coach Jason Tuapawa and his team will have another large contingent at the Park for Saturday’s final against YMP, who can also expect to have a big following. Picture by Paul Rickard

TE KARAKA will come to town on Saturday as Waikohu try to make history by winning their first Lee Bros Shield rugby title at Rugby Park.

Waikohu lost last year’s final to High School Old Boys.

“We’ve got a lot of players who played that day (12 of the starting 15 and 15 of the 22-man squad) and that loss hurt,” said GT Shearing Waikohu skipper and hooker Geoff Pari, who was vice-captain in 2017.

“That final experience will help us this time around.

“YMP have a lot of players who have played in finals but, having been there and lost last year, we want to experience a winning feeling.”

The final pits former Shield-winning teammates Jason Tuapawa (Waikohu coach) and Steve Smith (East Coast Farm Vets YMP coach) against each other.

Both played in the Pirates team who beat YMP in the 2012 final.

“Jason was a very good rugby and basketball player and he’s developing into a good premier coach,” Smith said.

“People think Waikohu are a team who just throw the ball around with their talented backs, but they play a structured game when they have to.

“They also showed in last week’s semifinal win against OBM that they can grind out victories.”

The mutual respect is evident, Tuapawa saying he learned a lot from Smith.

“I moved from Waikohu to Pirates and Steve taught me a lot,” Tuapawa said.

“He was one of the senior players and we have been friends ever since.”

While Waikohu — an amalgamation of Whatatutu, Rangatira and Matawai — are determined to take the Shield back to Te Karaka, YMP are looking to add to their eight championships.

Waikohu’s amalgamation, in 2006, came about after Whatatutu and Matawai were struggling for numbers.

“For a while, Whatatutu and Matawai played under Rangatira,” Waikohu treasurer Diana Trafford said.

“It was a natural transition for the three clubs to come together as Waikohu.”

Waikohu’s colours — black, red and blue — are representative of the three clubs and they have come a long way in the past 12 years, winning senior one titles and now appearing in successive Shield finals.

“Not only do we have a premier team who will be playing in their second straight Shield final, we have a senior one team,” Trafford said.

“The senior one team is a good mix of older players and young players, which should keep us strong for the future.”

“We’ve also got staunch supporters from all three clubs.”

Waikohu were promoted from the senior one competition in 2016 and showed then that they were not there to make up the premier numbers, giving a good account of themselves against the top teams.

Last season, under coach Tahi Hiroki, they made the final.

On Saturday, they get another chance to make history but face a YMP team who showed their character by coming from 26-7 down at halftime to beat Ngatapa 30-26 in the semifinal.

YMP will not lack for support. Their numbers have grown with every game this season, and include former players who have enjoyed tasted Shield success.

With both teams favouring a running game, spectators are in for an entertaining final that could go to the wire.