A feast of pride, pork and cartop armchairs

CHRIS RATTUE and photographer RICHARD ROBINSON sample the flavour of Ngati Porou East Coast rugby, which has launched the entire community on a winning streak.

"For 80 years we were losers. Now we are winners."

It's a phrase you often hear among East Coast rugby supporters.

The scoreboard did not show them as triumphant in their latest NPC second-division rugby game at tiny Whakarua Park in the equally tiny town of Ruatoria.

A run of five straight second-division wins comes to an end. But it is hard to see the smallest rugby union in the country as anything but winners, whatever it says on the park scoreboard, which proclaims their opponents as "Visitors."

Nelson Bays prevailed 18-13 on Saturday, holding off a furious late bid from the home side that ended when referee Glenn Wahlstrom found some obstruction as the East Coast forwards drove towards the Nelson line.

Locals reckon it was 9 o'clock before the "beer tasted sweet again" at the Ruatoria Hotel, famed place of the last two third-division celebration parties. The trophy sits above the bar and a blackboard points table always has East Coast on top.

Yesterday, the team were still pondering the loss to Nelson Bays, although coach Joe McClutchie was steering their attention to the final round match against Manawatu rather than dwelling on the defeat.

East Coast rugby is aiming high, even though to outsiders it is remarkable that the team are in the second division at all, let alone intent on winning the title.

Their rugby achievements are so outrageously out of proportion to their size. And the sporting journey is giving a needed lift to the Ngati Porou people - of those still living on the East Coast, most are unemployed.

"All we ask our players to do is die for us," says chief executive Anthony Nelson, a farmer and carpenter and now the East Coast union's chief executive.

Nelson Bays faced what every visiting side now faces at Whakarua Park. The 250-seat stand was packed and a few thousand supporters ringed the field, almost within touching distance of the players.

Perhaps the biggest crowd of the season, close to 3000, brings bumper gate-takings of $11,000.

What is normal here you won't find at your standard NPC rugby base.

Car roofs are turned into grandstands complete with lounge chairs, while some spectators are happy to lie on the grass.

Most of the East Coast side are unemployed yet they play for pride and their supporters, more than the $100 a game.

The players' cash cow is a couple of cows. Two calves were donated a few years ago and the sale of them and their offspring provides a "farmers' fund" that enables a $50 win bonus to be paid.

The day before the Nelson Bays game, most of the players went on a diving trip, then spent the night at a marae.

After the game, as spectators filtered home or to the pub, and kids on the scoreboard raised East Coast's points to the maximum 999, the Nelson players headed towards the best post-match feed they may ever have.

Pork, stuffing, kumara, pumpkin and mashed potatoes are not on offer at many venues. Throw in paua, mussels and marinated fish, and it's the menu from heaven.

While the loss may have frustrated the team, by yesterday many locals believed it was a blessing leading into the semifinals as it will have blown away any complacency.

This week, the Sky Blue army will be on the march. Four buses and any number of cars will carry hundreds of fans south for the match against Manawatu, which East Coast must win to gain a home semifinal.

Then, given the right result, it will be back to Whakarua Park, to the pre-match haka, mobile grandstands and pork dinners, for a shot at the second-division title.