CHB winners but mums hail boys

Karamu High School first XV team have lost the final on paper.
Hawke's Rugby Football Union (HBRFU) competitions manager Ian MacRae disclosed his ruling, submitting the email he sent to Karamu High declaring losing semifinalists Central Hawke's Bay College are the A grade champions of the secondary schoolboys' competition.
"It's just a case of school teachers tearing each other apart," former All Black MacRae told SportToday yesterday before opting to flick the email to the newspaper.
A group of irate Karamu High mothers contacted SportToday on behalf of their disgruntled players and parents, demanding an explanation from competition organisers why they didn't play their final last Saturday morning against Lindisfarne College, who had defeated table toppers CHB the previous weekend in the semifinals.
A dejected spokeswoman for the Karamu parents, Fran Sullivan, said: "To have the decision from the governing body shows they have acted dishonourably towards Karamu High and rugby as a whole."
As far as the Karamu players and parents were concerned, Sullivan said, they would always be the rightful champions because Lindisfarne had defaulted to them after winning the semifinal.
"This kind of decision would not be accepted at club, provincial or international level so we just showed our children how to stand up for themselves and not just lie down and go with what anybody says or does," she said, lauding the Karamu team and coaching staff for their five years of "incredibly hard work".
Karamu, who had beaten Wairoa, were expecting to play the integrated boys' school but Lindisfarne teacher Karl Jones, who is also in charge of doing the draw, bar the play-offs, said on Thursday Lindisfarne had already defaulted to CHB before playing them.
Jones said Lindisfarne, who opted to travel to play in a quadrangular tournament in Christchurch this week, didn't want to play in the Bay final at all.
CHB coach Duncan Quinlivan, claiming organisers must be held accountable, described the situation as a "big, fat mess".
Claiming there were no winners, Quinlivan said his players had suffered from the farcical end to the season and felt his team had got into the final "by dodgy means".
He said the Super 8 competition, which Napier Boys' High and Hastings Boys' High compete in, was detrimental to Bay's development.
The Karamu mothers suspected the Terry Hooper Shield, the symbol of co-ed schools' supremacy, was at stake for holders Karamu had they played CHB.
But MacRae said yesterday: "The shield is just a red herring. It should never have been put there. It should have been set aside and the final played."
He said Karamu teacher Jon Mathews had emailed him, claiming they should win by default since Lindisfarne had defaulted to Karamu.
In his reply to Mathews, MacRae, after consulting Jones, said Lindisfarne had advised CHB College that irrespective of the semifinal result they would not be available for the final and recommended CHB go through.
Lindisfarne coach Ben Spriggens had phoned Quinlivan on the Friday before their semifinal to explain their stance and that CHB could play in the final. Lindisfarne, who played only a portion of the A grade competition, wanted to play the semifinal regardless as a build-up the quadrangular tourney.
"This appears to me to be a totally logical arrangement given that CHB were the top qualifiers in the competition," McRae said in his email.
With Mathews asking if Jones had the right make this decision, McRae said the Bay schools' association had appointed him draws officer and the HBRFU backed him.
"Karl has an extremely difficult task [and] is called upon to make numerous decisions, off the cuff, in the best interest of the game and the players. We believe that this is but one such occasion ..."
The union supported of the finals day concept at HBHS last Saturday, but claimed Karamu had deprived two teams of experiencing the elation of finals football and detracted from the quality of the day.
Karamu, he said, could have at least played under protest and sorted out issues later. Coach Tom Blake has kept his silence.