Club rugby: Kio Kio United claim first win in more than 1400 days

Kio Kio United life member Michael Cumpstone points at the scoreboard after their first win in almost four years.

Kio Kio United claimed their first King Country Premier men’s club rugby victory in about 1425 days - almost four years - against Waitomo at Kio Kio Rugby Grounds on Saturday.

Player/coach Jeff Peek says the 31-26 scoreline wasn’t just a triumph for the team, it was huge for the rural club and community as well.

“The illusive ‘W’ finally came our way. We’ve had a number of local boys working very hard for that for a very long time and to tick that one off, there’s a lot of relief, a lot of elation and joy,” Peek says.

“I’m very proud of what went on, on Saturday, for the boys to do it. It’s been very close all year. It was a battle all the way through, it was a very close game.”

Peek says it followed on from three weeks ago when they played Waitomo and lost by seven points after 80 minutes.

“Both teams had moments of ascendancy, but we managed to get a two-try lead. I had come off by that time and it was the longest 30 minutes of my life sitting on the sideline watching. We had to hang on and we had one sneak in, but there was no way the boys were going to let another try in and they managed to seal the deal.”

Last season was tough for Kio Kio United, with low numbers and high-scoring margins, but this year has been a turnaround.

“We lost to the top team in the competition by 15 points and that was the smallest winning margin that they’d had all season,” says Peek.

“We’ve got a great core of local boys that want to pay rugby for Kio Kio and be a part of the King Country set-up.

“Some of them have been around for two, three, four years and to finally get that W on the board, there were some very chuffed faces and some very sore heads on Sunday morning.

“One of our young fellas, openside flanker Kees Muller, is part of the [wider 60-man King Country Rams squad]. We’ve pushed his case fairly hard this year because we feel he’s a young, raw talent and will only go well if he gets exposure to a big set-up like that. Sadly, he wasn’t here in the weekend.”

Kio Kio United have two more round robin games left to play, with Peek hoping for a division one semifinal berth.

After taking five competition points on Saturday, the side now sit equal with the Taumarunui Eels and Bush United, just one point behind Waitomo.

“The way I feel about it is that a semi won’t be good enough for us now, we want to be pushing to play for some silverware. I don’t care what sort of trophy it is. We want to promote Kio Kio and promote our boys,” says Peek.

“It’s a great feeling of elation - it was really great to see the life members and the local community hanging around all with big smiles on their faces. Everyone was really chuffed about the result.”