Triumph for Tawa
Two down and one to go for Tawa College’s 1st XV.
The school’s rugby side came away from St Pat’s Silverstream with another trophy to lock away, after a hard-fought 15-11 win over Wairarapa College in the college premier 2 final on Saturday.
In heavy conditions, defending champions Wairarapa got points on the board first but the Tawa forwards won the day in the lowscoring contest.
Skipper Jonty Boyd and his fellow loose forwards were superb in securing crucial turnovers at pivotal moments.
Tawa coach Matt Boyd said he had a gut feeling on Friday that his team were going to overcome the favoured Wairarapa side. Tawa only lost twice this season, including to Saturday’s opponents, but there was an edge to their preparation last week.
‘‘We had one training that was a smash fest, so you could tell the boys wanted this real bad,’’ he said.
‘‘I thought we had the right systems in place and wasn’t tempted to change anything that had been going well for us this season.
‘‘ On Saturday it was an incredibly even contest from two very good sides.’’
The other loss this year was in grading to St Pat’s Town, which meant Tawa ended up in premier 2, but Boyd said the squad showed maturity to get on with life in the second tier.
The feeling at the final whistle at Silverstream was very sweet, Boyd said.
‘‘ There were people with glassy eyes out there; this meant a lot,’’ he said.
‘‘A lot of the guys won’t be back [to college] next year, so the decision was made at the start to have the right attitude and just win everything.
‘‘We have the Beard Trophy and now the premier 2 title — it’s a great effort from an outstanding group of young men.’’
This Saturday, in Palmerston North, Tawa College take on Feilding High School in the final of the Hurricanes section of the Co-ed Cup. The winner will represent this region at the Co-ed Cup nationals in Rotorua in September.
Feilding High School are a great rugby school, Boyd said, but his charges will never roll over.
‘‘No one knows too much about Tawa and we have absolutely nothing to lose. All I ask is that they put their heart and soul into every game and if they come off beaten, I can live with that.’’