Aotea nabs Co-ed Cup
Aotea College’s first XV has notched its first big achievement of the season – winning the Wellington section of the Co-ed Cup.
It was secured after wins over Bishop Viard, Taita and then the tight 23-13 win at Porirua Park over Naenae last month.
Aotea will likely take on either Wanganui Collegiate or Feilding High School in August for the chance to represent the Central region against the top co-ed schools from the South Island and top of the North Island.
Richie Anderton, who coaches the side with Anthony Urwin and Mark Puati, says the young side worked hard in pre-season, set goals and expectations and are now seeing the fruits of their labour.
‘‘Rugby at Aotea is in a very good place, we have more playing numbers than ever before, a third XV and plenty of junior teams. Eight of the starting premier boys will be back next year, there’s a lot of depth right now.’’
Captain Dylan Tuiavi’i says the team is tightknit – they even had their heads shaved to show unity.
‘‘We know what we need to do, everyone has confidence in each other’s abilities and there is a lot of excitement about what we can achieve.’’
While not the biggest team, Tuiavi’i says their ability to throw it wide, running their opponents’ big players around the park, and a mobile pack, are the cornerstones of their tactics this year.
Winning the local section was one of the team’s three goals for 2012. The other two are winning the Beard Trophy – they get their chance against Tawa College later this month – and retaining a place in the premier 1 division.
The latter challenge may be the toughest. In their first season back in the top grade since 2008, Aotea has started with three losses – to St Bernard’s, HIBS and, on Saturday, Scots College. It doesn’t get any easier this weekend when they take on the formidable Wellington College.