Celtic blemish on Caird milestone
Tim Caird celebrated his 100th senior club rugby match for Waimate on Saturday, but the result did not go his way.
His side lost 37-25 to Celtic at Alpine Energy Stadium but the Waimate hooker said the team ‘‘gave it their all’’ and he was ‘‘humbled’’ by the messages of support he had received over the past week.
‘‘It has been pretty awesome to play with these guys,’’ Caird said.
‘‘We tried our best against Celtic, the players were just spent by the end of it.
‘‘It was just a few small errors here and there that was the difference in the end.’’
Caird, who began his senior rugby career as a flanker but moved to hooker a couple of seasons ago, said he still loved playing for Waimate.
‘‘It has been the only club I have ever played for; I started here when I was 4 and just love playing for these guys,’’ he said.
‘‘It has been a good start to the season for us, we are sitting in fourth place, which is pretty good.’’
It was a busy weekend for senior club rugby, with top of the table Harlequins steamrolling Pleasant Point 59-0; Temuka beating a gutsy Mackenzie 31-20; and cellar-dwellers Geraldine and Old Boys drawing 21-21.
Harlequins club president Howie Peeti said the side was ‘‘really starting to click’’.
‘‘You can have those games where everything goes right, and this was one of them. I think Pleasant Point played pretty well, we just were really cohesive,’’ Peeti said.
He said there were several standout players, including first-five Dean Andrews, who scored a try and kicked eight conversions; centre Paula Fifita, who picked up a brace of tries; and flanker Leone Nawalu, who scored three tries.
‘‘But the real standout for me was fullback Jordan Fraser – he really controlled things on the day,’’ Peeti said.
Old Boys’ coach Aaron Coles said he was disappointed with the draw against Geraldine. The side remains winless this season.
‘‘It was just these little errors, or failing to execute set-pieces properly,’’ Coles said.
‘‘There were some standout players, particularly George Brown at No.8, but we are still chasing that win.’’