Proud of his achievements in touch

TROPHY WINNERS: Carlos Hihi (left) and Rotorua Boys’ High School teammate Bless Perese-Elliot with the Kaurutanga grade trophy their team won at the secondary schools’ touch championships in Rotorua. Picture supplied

TOUCH RUGBY

This young man has immense pride in Gisborne and what he’s achieved away from home.

Carlos Hihi played as one of the two “middles” — playmakers — for a young Rotorua Boys’ High School (Raukura) team who won the boys’ Kaurutanga grade in the 2020 Bunnings secondary schools’ touch championships in Rotorua.

It was Raukura’s sixth national title in the code since Tongariro College won the inaugural tournament in 1993.

Rotorua Boys’ High head coach Maurice Stone had help from his son, NZ senior touch representative Shaq, and NZ Touch under-20 rep Jordan Tuakana-Hudson, both of whom play for the 07 Heat in the Premier Touch League.

In pool play on Day 1, Raukura drew 3-3 with John McGlashan College of Dunedin, then beat New Plymouth Boys’ High 14-4 and Marlborough Boys’ College 12-7.

On Day 2, Raukura beat Otago BHS 8-7, Palmerston North BHS 12-6, St Paul’s Collegiate School (Hamilton) 10-2 and Nelson College 11-3.

Before the tourney, the team thought making the top four would be an accomplishment. Winning their first title since 2017 — with a crew that included three Year 9 students and four Year 10s — was seen as improbable.

On Day 3 the conditions returned to searing heat after the humidity and sunshowers of Day 2.

Stone’s young team beat Westlake BHS (Auckland) 9-8 in the first Kaurutanga semifinal and — that afternoon — Kings High School 11-9 in the grand final.

What Carlos’s outfit achieved, as a team still two to three years away from their peak, is remarkable, as is the level of commitment he showed in the lead-up to this triumph.

Having returned to Gisborne to study for school exams, for a month he would travel by bus back to Rotorua every Monday to train and play. After Tuesday night games, family would bring him home or he would catch a bus the next morning.

Despite Covid-19, 72 teams attended the touch championships for boys’, girls’ and mixed teams — just three teams fewer than the number who competed in 2019.

Some 1500 competitors, coaches, managers and 2000-plus spectators flocked to Westbrook Park, Ray Boord Park and Rotorua International Stadium to see high-calibre athletes in action. Carlos’s father Duane Hihi took a Gisborne Boy’s High team to the tournament in 2019.

“The benchmark is set by Rotorua and Hamilton, but because Condor Sevens finals day clashed with Day 1 of this tournament, Hamilton were beaten twice — by Kings HS and Otago BHS — and didn’t make it out of pool play,” Duane Hihi said.

“Rotorua BHS topped their pool, but as Maurice Stone said, if Hamilton had had their key players available on Day 1, they’d have been there with us at the end.”

Carlos — whose next touch assignment is for Bay of Plenty at the Bunnings National Youth Touch Championships at Pulman Park, Papakura, from February 12 to 14, said: “Only two of our boys have left school. The team spirit and feeling were awesome with these guys and to play with them was an honour.

“The travel back and forth, the sacrifices, all of it was worthwhile.”