Sixteen-year-old Zyon Collins had no sooner got off the bus home from Gisborne — having played in the East Coast under-18s’ win against Lytton High School — than he was playing first-five for Dad’s team, Tawhiti. Zyon’s father, Tarquin Collins, is the coach.
McClutchie said he was proud of the team.
“Tawhiti means everything to us,” McClutchie said.
“It didn’t matter what the score was — we just wanted a try. It didn’t matter who scored it, as long as we got one.”
Hikurangi have been very well served by coaches Doone Harrison and Monty Manuel.
Harrison, who played for “The Maunga” between 1993 and 2012, acknowledged Tawhiti’s match-effort with feeling.
“Some seasons you have a lot of players around, the next they’ve all moved out of town. It’s always a numbers game on the Coast, a continuous wave of ups and downs.
“In our case, our team’s been together for six months now.
“Going into this game, we’d actually prepared for and practised playing wet-weather rugby all week, but on Saturday it was fine, so we ended up throwing the ball around instead.
“Still, that was a super hearty effort from Tawhiti. I was really impressed by Tahu Walker and Moana-Jay Kenworthy. They’re both great young players.”
