Players’ registration under scrutiny

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

RUGBY

THREE JAB rugby championships have been decided, with Pirates winning two finals and Ngatapa, one, in matches played at Rugby Park.

Pirates defeated YMP 22-19 in the under-13 final, Ngatapa beat Pirates 30-10 in the u11 final and Pirates beat YMP 70-18 in the u9 final

The u13 open final was preceded by YMP successfully appealing to the Poverty Bay Rugby Football Union judiciary committee to overide their team disqualification imposed by the JAB over registration issues.

YMP were allowed to play, displacing beaten semifinalists High School Old Boys, but one of two players whose eligibility was in question was banned from playing.

Judiciary committee chairman Adam Simperingham said the committee had studied the team sheets and determined “Player A’’ had played three qualifying games.

It appeared the player’s name had been written on one undated team sheet in different handwriting and with a different pen from the other names.

“The PBRFU may wish to look into this.”

Mr Simperingham said a difficulty with Player B was that two players had the same Christian name and on most team sheets the Christian name appeared with no surname.

The committee studied the team sheets, looking at positions for example, and determined Player B had not played three qualifying matches

He was banned from playing in the final.

Mr Simperingham said another issue was the date of registration.

There was a complication with players appearing for both Gisborne Boys’ High School and their club, with YMP representatives speaking of “administrative oversight”, which the committee accepted.

Team management could have been better but there was nothing “invidious”.

YMP’s semifinal victory had been “‘a thrashing”, and it was unlikely Players A and B had an impact on the outcome of the match.

Mr Simperingham said there were doubts over whether Player A had played three games, but there were no prescribed “outcomes” for issues around qualifying matches and school dispensation.

Clarification was required.