Glen Horton is pretty well-known in Taihape.
Born and bred in the town, the Southland Stags fullback brought the coveted Ranfurly Shield to a game at Memorial Park last year ... by helicopter.
So there was no mistaking him when, midway through the first half, he ran on for Taihape in Saturday's
derby clash with Utiku Old Boys.
The only problem was that he was not registered for Taihape. He had played club rugby the previous two weeks for Invercargill Blues and there had been no inter-club transfer, let alone the obligatory one-match stand-down.
Horton, who plied his rugby trade in Southland and Otago in recent years and was part of the Stags ITM Cup team last year, was on a visit back home when he was drafted into action after an injury in the Taihape backline.
There is debate about his impact on the field in a match that ended up 26-25 to Taihape, but there's no doubt about his impact off it, with the Wanganui union reversing the result and giving the win to Utiku.
"I couldn't believe it when he went on," said Utiku coach Robert Adams, who can take satisfaction from the fact that his team is once again unbeaten in the Wanganui premier rugby competition.
"Everybody knows Glen in Taihape ... we knew he was signed on in Southland."
Adams, who is distantly related to Horton, said the ineligible interloper was "quite involved" in both Taihape tries.
Taihape coach Parry Paringatai reckoned his new man wasn't a big part of the game and believed his team would have won in any case.
"We didn't know he'd played for Invercargill," Paringatai said. "If we'd known he was ineligible, we wouldn't have played him."
As for the result being reversed, Paringatai was philosophical: "We just have to live with it."
One thing for sure, should the two teams meet again this season, it should be a game worth seeing.
