Rugby: Teams take to field in memory of Jordan

Otamatea's Matt Moulds (right) will be leading from the front tomorrow to pay his respects to clubmate Jordan Kemp. Photo / John Stone

Super Rugby teams will pay their respects to Otamatea's Jordan Kemp this weekend by having a moment's silence before kick-off.

Club teams in the Bay of Plenty will also do the same after their rugby union put a message out to its clubs saying a moment's silence would be observed due to the Kemp family's connection to the Eastern Bay of Plenty region.

Tomorrow Otamatea and Hora Hora will play their final club game of the season.

Earlier this week Otamatea Rugby Club had a meeting, which a specialist grief counsellor attended, where the players came to a unanimous decision - with the family's blessing - that they would play this weekend as usual to respect their clubmate.

Kemp, who died in Auckland Hospital on Sunday with a suspected brain bleed in a premier reserve match against Old Boys Marist, was described as a rugby lover and the club felt playing would have been what Kemp would want.

Otamatea premier coach Dean Kenny told the Advocate there would be plenty of emotion in the match, adding it was about keeping that emotion in check to respect the occasion.

Otamatea sit fourth in the Bayleys Southern Districts Premier Competition, essentially needing a five-point win tomorrow to make the play-offs and deny defending champions Mid Northern a semifinal spot.

"It's been one hell of an emotional roller-coaster ride for all and sundry at the club. It's going to be an emotional sort of day and we're just going to have to make sure they're all kept in check," Kenny said.

The players were told on Monday if they had any doubt - or concerns - that they were emotionally not going to be there they might as well not turn up. "It's not going to achieve our goal of making the semi, and it's not the way we'd want a game to be remembered in Jordan's memory."

However, Otamatea called off training for the week so players could grieve and attend Kemp's funeral yesterday morning.

"[Today] they can wake up and start focusing on the game at hand. If somehow or another we get through this with a five-pointer it'll be a bonus, but, for us, all the boys are hurting and it's a way they can respect Jordan. Either way it has been a hell of a long time.

"All we're asking for is a couple or three hours of their time to zero in on this target. After that they can do all the grieving they like.

"The furthest thing from our minds at the moment has been rugby. After [Monday] night's meeting it rekindled the thought process on rugby."

Hora Hora coach Doug Te Puni said his side would perform a haka before the game and would play the match in the spirit of rugby.

"We will pay our respects, but play as we always do - we're going to play hard to try and win," he said. "The prems have not played a full 80 minutes so we're aiming to do that. Our reserves need to win to make the top four so we won't be taking the games lightly."

Northland Rugby Union chief executive Jeremy Parkinson said there was still a lot of raw emotion among the players, but he was focusing on supporting the family the best he could.

"There were a lot of tears [at Monday's meeting]. It was pretty healthy. One of [the Otamatea players] got up and said, 'Listen, Jordan passed away doing what he loved and he would want us to play the game'.

"This tragedy hasn't just touched Jordan Kemp and his family. This is about the wider Otamatea rugby and Northland rugby community. It has touched everyone."