"For me and the Under 10s it was an awesome build-up in terms of four months of training. We didn't go there to win but with the team and trainings we had the results looked after themselves.
"Fortunately for us we ended up being pretty dominant in our grade.
"From October onwards we trained two to three times a week plus we had games against adults and other tournaments that prepared us for this competition. That schedule clearly worked well for us."
The Mixed Elite side breezed through the group stages, comfortably accounting for Bay of Plenty (13-1), North Harbour (12-0), Counties-Manukau (9-4) and Thames Valley (11-2).
They were barely troubled through the finals stages too, trouncing Auckland 11-2 in the semifinals before again beating Counties-Manukau 8-2 to claim the title.
Two other Te Tai Tokerau sides managed to gain podium finishes. The Under 10 Mixed Development side got through to the final of their division before losing to Bay of Plenty while the Under 14 Mixed Elite side grabbed the bronze medal in their draw.
There were committed performances from the other six sides over the weekend: Under 12 Boys, Under 12 Girls, Under 12 Mixed Elite, Under 14 Boys and Under 14 Girls.
Rau, who is Northland's Touch Development Officer, said a lot of work was done off the field ahead of the last major touch competition for this age group for the season.
"A lot of fundraising was done. With touch, even though it should be, it's not a highly funded sport so if you want to be involved you have to pay," he said.
"So fundraising got us there, we didn't get a lot of assistance from elsewhere.
"That's pretty much the end of the campaign for the 2017/18 season. We'll meet back up again in October and begin that process again for this tournament again in 2019."
