Rugby: Glory days return after a generation

By CHRIS RATTUE

Throughout the 2000 rugby season, Otahuhu trained under a burden of history.

On Saturday, after a buildup that drew heavily on the club's past glories, they triumphed over that weight of tradition when they beat Ponsonby 24-13 in the Gallaher Shield final at Eden Park.

It was a triumph which Otahuhu captain Robert Rush hailed as a victory for South Auckland rugby.

"Our players used to go to clubs such as Ponsonby and Marist. Now they want to play in South Auckland," Rush said.

"It was great to have [Blues players] Orene Ai'i and Keven Mealamu with us - they were jumping out of their skins to play with their old schoolmates. A lot of these guys have played together since they were at school.

"Last season we had a lot of young guys. This year we had more experience, we didn't rush things."

The traditions Otahuhu drew on go back a long way and were instilled in the present squad well before they prepared for the shield final.

Otahuhu, Auckland's dominant club in the 1960s, had not won the shield since 1982. This year their training gear had the number 82 emblazoned on the back. On the Monday before the final, Richard Dunn and Sam Marcel from the 1982 side spoke to the team, as did the club's former All Black hooker, Ron Urlich, a few hours before the match.

"Richard and Sam told us what this meant to our community," said Rush.

"Ron told us the big games you always end up remembering are the ones you lose, not the ones you win. In his last game, Ponsonby beat Otahuhu in the Gallaher Shield. He said it was not a nice feeling to remember.

"The old club members were getting a bit frustrated that we couldn't win again.

"The amount of support the club has had over the past few weeks has been unbelievable. We had five busloads of supporters here today."

Otahuhu, coached by Trevor Snookes and Geoff Moon, were in control for most of Saturday's final, although Ponsonby opened the scoring after four minutes.

Referee Glen Wahlstrom discovered some obstruction as Ai'i began to run, and Gavin Williams kicked the penalty.

Otahuhu edged ahead with two Tupe Fanolua penalties, then took command with a brilliantly worked try which saw Rush free the ball in a tackle and lock Bradley Mika finish it off.

Temporary replacement Darren Kellett and Williams missed other penalty attempts in the half, leaving Otahuhu with an 11-3 halftime lead.

With fullback Ai'i managing to produce his magical dancing runs in the second half, Otahuhu always seemed in command, and in the 69th minute it was him who forced Ponsonby into needing two tries to take the lead. He cut through the defence to set up a ruck, and then kicked a drop goal for a 17-6 advantage.

Otahuhu sealed the game five minutes later when a Ponsonby move failed. Fanolua reversed a beautiful pass to second five-eighths Robert Laban, who ran 60m for the try.

As Rush acknowledged in his victory speech, there were no better opponents than Ponsonby for Otahuhu's drought-ending triumph. Ponsonby have won the shield a record 23 times since 1922.

But the team, coached by Jack Huch, were outplayed for most of Saturday's final and poor passes or handling let them down at crucial moments. Their best player was flanker Finau Maka.

On fulltime Ponsonby finally produced a move that worked when they opened a gap for replacement back Brett Williams. But it was too little, too late.

Otahuhu 24 (Bradley Mika, Robert Laban tries, Tupe Fanolua 3 pen, con; Orene Ai'i drop goal), Ponsonby 13 (Brett Williams try, Gavin Williams 2 pen; Darren Kellett con). Ht: 11-3.