Local sides shine at touch tournament

Bay of Islands College player Pearl Uren-Te Kuru reaches for the ball while fending off Teowai Ashby from Dargaville High School during the touch tournament at Kaikohe. Photo / Debbie Beadle

Kaitaia College, Te Kura Kaupapa Maori o Pukemiro at Kaitaia and Bay of Islands College were top participants when 23 teams from 15 northern schools competed in the Secondary Schools Touch Tournament at Lindvart Park in Kaikohe last Friday.

Other Far North schools taking part were Kerikeri High School, Okaihau College, Northland College and Panguru Area School.

Dargaville High School and Ruawai College teams from Kaipara and Whangarei Girls' High, Whangarei Boys' High, Kamo High, Tikipunga High and Tauraroa Area School teams from the Whangarei district also competed, along with Rodney College students from Wellsford.

Kaikohe police Senior Constable Hoani Hippolite, a member of the Kaikohe Junior Youth Touch Committee which organised the tournament for Sport Northland, said that in the girls' competition Bay College and Whangarei Girls' High School (WGHS) had the dominant teams, beating their rivals in pool play. When they inevitably clashed in the finals WGHS won 3-1.

Bay College and Whangarei Boys' High School (WBHS) showed early dominance in the boys' games, but Mr Hippolite said WBHS won their finals encounter by a convincing margin.

Kaitaia College and its neighbour Te Kura Kaupapa Maori o Pukemiro battled through a semi-final in the competition for mixed teams of boys and girls.

Their game ended in a draw, resulting in a drop-off finish in which each team sidelines a player after each minute of game time until winning points are scored.

Mr Hippolite said the teams got down to three players before Kaitaia College won the "excellent, very exciting game." Kaitaia College then faced Rodney College in the mixed teams' final, won 2-1 by the Wellsford team after "another very good game."