The odds were staked against the Outkast Hawke's Bay Open Mixed touch team which travelled to the 30th annual Whakatane Open tournament at the weekend.
Player-coach Anaru Bartlett and his troops were a late entry in the open mixed grade after players from the team were hoping to be entered as separate open men's and open women's teams with other clubmates but those grades were already chocka. There was a 20-year age difference between the oldest player, Bartlett, 35, and Jordan Thompson-Dunn.
All but one of the players were related with former New Zealand open men's and under-21 men's rep Bartlett an uncle to five and hubby to another. This can often be a recipe for disaster and domestics.
However the side, which was co-captained by Bartlett and his nephew Ash Robinson, won their 16-team open grade with an unbeaten run in five matches including a 7-5 win against Pearl Jam of Auckland in the final to become the first Hawke's Bay team to win an open grade title at New Zealand's largest open club tournament which this year attracted more than 90 teams.
"We certainly defied the odds. That Pearl Jam team was virtually the Auckland under-21 mixed team," Bartlett explained.