Champions’ finals experience shows
Woodlands captain Marty McKenzie believes the club’s ever-growing finals experience counted for plenty on Saturday.
Woodlands’ third straight Galbraith Shield title in Southland premier club rugby came through a tense 28-27 victory over Pirates-Old Boys at Rugby Park.
The defending champions trailed 27-23 inside the final 10 minutes before fullback Kieran Lee scored with six minutes to play to make it 28-27.
From that point, Woodlands hung tough to claim the club’s 11th Galbraith Shield title since 1996.
Remarkably, it was title No.10 for hooker Jason Rutledge.
McKenzie said they were put under plenty of pressure by Pirates-Old Boys but were able to lean on Woodlands’ wealth of finals experience when it got tough.
‘‘We talked about it during the week. Being in finals each year, I think it’s a massive advantage. Being here, experiencing it, going through tough times in a final, and working out how you get out of certain situations.
‘‘We talked about having the experience of the previous two years and leaning on that, and I think we responded really well because we got put under pressure a lot, so it was awesome,’’ he said.
Saturday’s final was the third time Woodlands and Pirates-Old Boys had met this season and all three games were decided by just one point.
Pirates-Old Boys were worthy finalists, and played well in the decider. They would have felt they had done enough to win the club’s first title in 16 years, only to slip at a couple of big moments.
Woodlands scored on the stroke of halftime to grab a 20-10 lead at the break, but tries to halfback Josh Murrell and wing Materua Tupou and a Greg Dyer penalty pushed Pirates-Old Boys to a 27-20 lead 16 minutes into the second half.
A McKenzie penalty brought it back to 27-23 with 14 minutes to play before Lee delivered what was the ultimate blow in the 74th minute.
‘‘We just hung tough, there were some boys out on the feet. That’s it, we just hang tough for each other,’’ McKenzie said.
There were a host of heroes across the park for Woodlands, wing Rory van Vugt got through plenty of work, as did tighthead prop Paula Latu. Centre Tausosi Tuimavave also worked hard throughout.
His opposite Isaac, Te Tamaki, was probably the best in a beaten team.
Pirates-Old Boys first fiveeighth Greg Dyer also put his team in the right areas of the field in what was an important matchup with McKenzie.
Despite the loss, Dyer will take some confidence into the Stags season on the back of that showing. McKenzie, a former Māori All Black, however, has opted to give the 2022 NPC season a miss.
‘‘That’ll be me for the season. I’m actually looking forward to having the weekends back,’’ he said.
While McKenzie will put the playing boots away for the remainder of the season he still does have some rugby duties to tend to.
He will help coach the Southland under-19 team alongside Scott Eade, Dayna Cunningham and Derek Manson.
But first, there’s a Galbraith Shield celebration to work through.