Rams co-captains in South Island team
Southland Rams co-captains Dylan Lovett and Shaun Tamariki-Todd have been rewarded for good form with selection in the South Island Scorpions rugby league squad.
The two forwards impressed with their play in the middle of the park throughout the Rams’ South Island Premier competition campaign.
Southland Rams coach Te Iwi Wairau was pleased with the way the duo performed in 2017, with the pair complementing each other in the co-captaincy roles.
‘‘They deserve it, the way they ran that team, their captaincy, how they put themselves on the field, they totally deserve it,’’ he said.
‘‘It is hard to explain their leadership, I mean they are both great leaders, both lead by example on the field, but one is a talker on the field as well, as with Dylan just shows them how it is done.’’
The Rams’ season was a mixed
Ybag in 2017, finishing third out of five teams, with two wins, one loss and one draw from their four games, with the defending champions’ squad featuring a large number of new faces.
According to Wairau, the pair especially showed their class in their final match of the season, a 48-14 victory over the Tasman Titans.
‘‘They did work hard this season, I have got big raps on both of them. They are just brilliant, they know the gameplan, they worked it out and that game up in Tasman, they were just outstanding, they just led from the front, that is why we got such a big score,’’ he said.
The South Island Scorpions squad of 19 named will be reduced to 17 to travel to Christchurch to play the Canterbury Samoan team on Saturday November 4.
The team will be coached by Otago Whalers coach David Reedy.
Southland’s Tamati Taylor-Taia made the under-17 South Island Scorpions squad.