Rugby: Takulua double gets his side home

Hora Hora will be wishing a bet between Mid Northern's coach and Tane Takulua hadn't happened after the halfback came good on his end of the bargain, helping his side to the Bayleys Southern District Premier title with a 16-12 win over Hora Hora at Toll Stadium.

Mid Northern coach Craig Edwards made a bet with Takulua before the game that he couldn't score two tries, leaving the coach with a bet to pay out on and Mid Northern with the winners' trophy.

"I had a word to Tane [Takulua] and said I'd give him something if he scored two tries, and the bugger did," Edwards laughed of Takulua's brace during a rain-affected match.

Takulua's second try came two minutes from fulltime, with Mid Northern trailing 11-12, showing why he has been picked for Northland by putting his 1.76m, 95kg frame to work with a 20m burst from the base of a ruck.

Edwards said while the conditions on Friday night were not pretty, it did even the playing field.

"Weather conditions just levels everything out. [But], all credit to our boys, they stood up, like I said at halftime [to his team], I said we worked hard to get there and we've only got one more half so now it's up to them [the players] to get the result.

"We've trained hard and we all got together before the game to talk about the season and got it all out there.

"We played for Jack Morgan too [who died last Thursday, aged 97], who was a stalwart for the club, so hopefully did him proud."

Besides Takulua's heroics throughout the match, Edwards believed Buster Tahere deserved a pat on the back for his efforts. He said he was an "outstanding player and I'd like to see him in a blue jersey".

The win is Mid Northern's third in six years under the watch of Edwards, who added this year could very well be his last as coach.

Kamo won the premier reserve final over Mid Northern 16-10.