Distances to Ruatoria via road

The former Poverty Bay lock reflects on his East Coast tenure with nothing but pride and got emotional when thinking back to his first match in charge in 2016, a pre-season encounter East Coast actually won 26-8 against Poverty Bay.

‘‘It’s largely been about family. My grandfather and great uncles all played for East Coast and lots of other relations, too. We’re based on the Coast and that’s where we’re from,’’ Ensor said.

‘‘It was the pride and I can still remember the first game when we played Poverty Bay and we beat them in pre-season. The emotion before the game was really overwhelming.

‘‘The pride of representing something bigger than just a team was really overwhelming. I’ll never forget that and it’s probably one of my best rugby memories.’’

Crosswell, a former loose forward for the Chiefs, Taranaki and Manawatu¯ , jumped at the chance to play for his iwi this year and played every minute of East Coast’s season. Based in New Plymouth, he would travel from coast to coast for home games after working for Fonterra in the week.

His first match was an away trip to Westport to play Buller. He flew from New Plymouth to Auckland, then to Christchurch, then across to Hokitika on a chartered flight with the team, with a bus taking them two hours north to Westport. Then, there was the return journey.

‘‘Having rugby as the vehicle to allow me to build connections with whanau back home was the key driver,’’ Crosswell said.

‘‘The distance wasn’t an issue because I really looked forward to getting back there.

‘‘I would encourage anyone that wants to go and play for the Coast to absolutely put their hand up – particularly those of us who may have connections back to Nga¯ ti Porou.

‘‘It’s an invaluable life experience that you just can’t get anywhere else.’’

Hamilton (436km), Gisborne (129km), Napier (343km), New Plymouth (626km), Palmerston North (520km), Wellington (665km).