“This means everything to our community. It’s taken a while. The last time we won was the year I was born, so it’s been a very long time.”
He paid tribute to the forwards, who he said anchored the victory.
“They were really hungry and set a good platform for our backs. We strive in set-piece play and tried to put the pressure on Athletic in those areas. The scrums were an even contest, but we may have had an edge in the lineouts.”
Wairoa Athletic captain and loosehead prop Alex Little won the toss and chose to kick off with the northerly behind them and field position foremost in their minds.
Athletic opened the scoring with a 38-metre penalty goal from centre Moss Doran at the six-minute mark.
Two minutes later, Nuhaka openside flanker Tahuwaka Edwards replied with a 32m kick.
The deadlock was broken by another Edwards penalty kick from 21m in the 37th minute.
But on the halftime whistle, Doran squared it with his penalty attempt from the right touch 5m inside Nūhaka territory.
The game’s only try came four minutes after the resumption.
The Star won an attacking lineout 12m from the right corner, drove infield over four phases towards Athletic’s posts and Raroa, son of 1998 coach Wiremu (Bub) Raroa, scored under the crossbar.
His try, which made it 11-6, was not converted, but right wing Kristen Munro did kick a penalty in the 66th minute to put them beyond the seven-point mark, and another on fulltime.
Doran said both sides played well, but Nuhaka executed better and more often in critical situations.
“Nuhaka deserve full credit for the way that they played the game, so we’ll take lessons from this and come back stronger for it next season.”
Defence from both sides was tight and tough in an atmosphere of typically tense grand final tension. Few tackles were missed, and narrow gaps were plugged as they appeared.
Referee Lenny Ferris did a great job of controlling the pressure-cooker situation as history beckoned for Nuhaka’s players and supporters alike.
