Wanderers retain title
It’s a week that Jesse Pitman certainly won’t forget in a hurry.
The Wanderers fullback and skipper freely admitted in the wake of Saturday’s Car Company Nelson Bays division one rugby final that he’d been preparing for the worst before fronting the judiciary on Wednesday for alleged verbal abuse of an assistant referee.
However, Pitman incurred no further sanction and duly took his place in Taylor’s Contracting Wanderers’ No 15 jersey to lead his team to a gripping 19-17 win over a gritty Wakatu Hotel Marist team at Trafalgar Park.
It meant back to back Nelson Bays club titles for the Wanderers side and Pitman was simply glad, and relieved, to be a part of it.
‘‘I’d prepared not to play really,’’ Pitman said. ‘‘I’d said to the boys, it was the toughest week of my life, I shed a few tears...but it’s good to come through with the boys.’’
There was plenty of drama to follow for Pitman who’d entered the contest as one of the competition’s most dangerous attackers. But it was at the other end of the field that he almost left an indelible mark.
With Wanderers ahead 19-17 and just six minutes remaining, Marist kicker James Hawkey lined up a potentially match-winning penalty from 45m out. The kick drifted marginally wide although inexpicably, Pitman knocked the ball on in-goal.
It subjected Wanderers to a tor- rid final few minutes as Marist threw everything into a desperate final onslaught. Wanderers held firm and it was Pitman who eventually cleared for touch following a turnover to end the game.
‘‘[Marist] were outstanding and they were well led by Tyler [cap- tain Tyler McKinnon-Stevenson], he’s a great leader,’’ he said.
‘‘But when we’ve got our fullstrength pack, they’re pretty hard to stop. We’ve got ball carriers everywhere and we’re just a tight unit. They’re willing to put their bodies on the line. We’ve just got big game players and they kind of stepped up today.’’
And what of Pitman’s own potentially fatal late gaffe?
‘‘I said to the boys, I just made it a bit more exciting,’’ he joked, despite the agonising reality at the time that he might have opened the door for Marist to snatch victory.
Pitman still played a key role although admitted that his kicking game became more prominent after Marist’s rugged defence successfully shut down a lot of Wanderers’ trade mark attack.
Their ball runners were still prominent, loose forwards Tone Ng Shiu and Gus Gibbens constantly testing Marist’s defence with their powerful surges. Prop Drew Petelo also featured with two bullocking tries close to the line, although it was Marist who’d taken a 10-7 lead into the halftime break after winger Willie Tagicakibau had exploited an unsecured kick to score their opening try.
Petelo eventually responded for Wanderers before midfielder Trael Joass gave Wanderers their first lead at 12-10 five minutes into the second half from a tap penalty.
Marist fullback Lote Saulekaleka and Petelo, once again, traded further tries as Wanderers eventually took their 19-17 lead. But Marist couldn’t cash in on Pitman’s late mistake as time ran out.
No 8 Shannon Frizell, flanker Te Puoho Stephens and winger Adam Dunn matched Wanderers’ efforts as Marist’s best ball runners although Wanderers’ defence proved just as effective.