The Coast’s captivating spirit
Ngãti Porou East Coast haven’t won a Heartland Championship match for five years but their players don’t have a second thought when travelling from as far as Whangarei and Wellington to represent New Zealand’s most isolated provincial rugby team. Joseph P
‘‘If you’re raised on the Coast, you’re involved in rugby. It’s often said rugby is religion on the East Coast.’’ Cushla Tangaere-Manuel East Coast’s CEO
The Nga¯ ti Porou East Coast rugby team was once New Zealand’s most compelling sporting fairytale and their spirit is still captivating years on from their glory days.
In 2001, East Coast were one victory away from promotion to the first division as the country’s smallest rugby union made a large impact in the national provincial championship (NPC).
The dream ended as Hawke’s Bay won the second division final 30-27 but their home ground, Napier’s McLean Park, was awash with East Coast’s striking sky blue colours when a passionate crowd of about 7000 supporters of Nga¯ ti Porou descent travelled from around the country to staunchly back their team.
But sustaining success is an almighty struggle for New Zealand’s most isolated provincial team, which encounters unique challenges on a weekly basis from the union’s base in Ruatoria.
Last Saturday’s 56-10 loss to Wanganui in Tolaga Bay was East Coast’s 41st consecutive defeat in the Heartland Championship, and their last victory in the competition was against Poverty Bay in Ruatoria on September 28, 2013.
That losing streak is the worst in NPC history but it doesn’t stop players from travelling huge distances up and down the roads of the East Coast’s magnificent yet challenging landscape.
Others journey by plane from as far as Whangarei, Auckland and Wellington to represent a large but sparsely populated region where more than 10 per cent of the population (of about 6000) are registered rugby players, but unemployment has long been an issue.
‘‘If you’re raised on the Coast, you’re involved in rugby. It’s often said rugby is religion on the East Coast,’’ said Cushla Tangaere-Manuel, East Coast’s CEO since 2013, who added ‘‘the tyranny of distance is one of our greatest challenges’’.
Tragedy struck in September when five players were absent for this season’s longest away trip to Timaru because of family bereavements suffered in the week prior. East Coast would lose 100-7 to South Canterbury but head coach Wayne Ensor said their team spirit is still strong.
‘‘They’re always in good spirits, our boys, because they’re playing for something more. It’s pretty special.
‘‘We’re really the only iwi-based team in New Zealand, so they represent that every time they play and that helps them keep believing and keep getting up each weekend.’’
Legendary East Coast prop Orcades Crawford, who played for New Zealand Ma¯ ori in 1994, once said ‘‘when you put on a sky blue jersey, it’s totally different to anything else. It’s probably better than the All Blacks [jersey]’’.
Most of the team are Ma¯ ori and they’re still heavily affiliated with the region’s Nga¯ ti Porou tribe and its traditions.
East Coast are the only provincial team who perform their own haka before each game and the players are invited to stay in their marae before home games. All but a few squad members have Nga¯ ti Porou ancestry.
Those flying into Gisborne then have to drive up to two hours north to their home ground, Ruatoria’s Whakarua Park, which was once a fortress opposing teams dreaded visiting. The nearby Mt Hikurangi (1752m) is the first mountain in New Zealand to see the sunrise.
Most of the squad flies out of Gisborne collectively for away games and those travelling from further afield meet up with the team along the way. An average return flight per person is $450 and New Zealand Rugby helps out with the travel costs.
So just getting a squad together for eight Heartland games a year is difficult every weekend for Ensor and his assistant, Troy Para, who have coached the team since 2016.
But halfback Sam Parkes, who was born and bred in Tolaga Bay where his parents were sheep and beef farmers, said it’s been a dream to play for East Coast since his debut in 2012.
‘‘I’ve gone away overseas and to other unions but there is nothing like playing for the Coast. There is something magical about putting the jersey on, the sky blue colour, and just being on the Coast, in this team and this environment, it’s fulfilling, it’s all you need.
‘‘It might be hard to fathom why everyone comes here and why people want to keep playing for the Coast. Once
you come in, and experience it, and feel what the Coast is about, you don’t want to leave.’’
Parkes is a qualified builder who, like most of the squad, lives and works in Gisborne because there aren’t enough job opportunities along the East Coast.
Club teams typically train on Tuesday and Thursday before a game on Saturday but the best East Coast can hope for is one session where the squad comes together on Friday before a captain’s run on Saturday. Not every player can attend or make it on time because of work or family commitments.
Last Friday night’s session before facing reigning Heartland champions Wanganui took place under the dim floodlights at the Uawa Rugby Club in Tolaga Bay.
One player, who would normally drive a few of his team-mates about two hours around the East Cape to training, was once absent because the cows on his farm needed artificially inseminating.
Most choose to stay in the team’s marae as huge meals are laid out for dinner and breakfast the following morning.
After last Friday’s light training, Stuff was invited into the marae along the stunning Anaura Bay. There, the welcome is wonderfully warm as the squad and family members dine together.
After one player’s young son says grace in Ma¯ ori, Adaam Ross, a lock regularly flying in from Whangarei, fills up on four hearty portions and, through a mouthful of bread and sauce, says the team’s brotherhood makes the arduous travel worthwhile.
Coach Para, who hails from Hiruharama, just south of Ruatoria, never played for East Coast despite his father insisting he should, but giving back to the team with Ensor as coaches is something he takes pride in.
‘‘It’s in our name, Nga¯ ti Porou East Coast,’’ Para said. ‘‘It signifies why we come back because we see it as representative of our iwi and our
tribe, which we’re very, very proud of.
‘‘And we think we’re unique in that we’re iwi-based. It’s a tribal thing in that we take great pride in representing our people – not only our rugby team.’’
The East Coast has produced talented players of late. Among them is All Blacks winger Nehe Milner-Skudder, whose mother, Heneriata Milner, still lives in Tokomaru Bay. She’s the principal at Ruatoria’s Ngata College.
Dane Coles, Kane Hames, Charlie Ngatai and Brad Weber, who have all played for the All Blacks, have Nga¯ ti Porou ancestry.
NPC rule changes in 2003 meant East Coast could no longer recruit as many players from outside the region as they had during their best years between 1999 and 2001. Then-chairman Bill Burdett said it would ‘‘bugger us’’.
The rules now mean Heartland teams can play just three loan players if they’re not signed up to the union by June 1.
Burdett’s fears came true as East Coast won only six games in 64 attempts from 2003-10 as the NPC, in 2006, switched from three divisions to its current format of the top-level Mitre 10 Cup and the Heartland Championship.
The good times would roll again as East Coast became Heartland champions
East Coast’s final match in 2018 is against West Coast in Greymouth at 2pm on Saturday. in 2012, winning the Meads Cup final one year on from losing the decider, and doing so in remarkable fashion as an inspirational halftime haka (from what felt like the entire community) led to them coming from 27-3 down to beat Wanganui 29-27 at Whakarua Park.
There was a mass pitch invasion as centre Verdon Bartlett scored a late match-winning try and there are reports a Wanganui lock, who was lying down in shock wondering what had happened, was given the fright of his life when a local’s horse jumped over him during the euphoric celebrations.
The same passion for rugby that sparked that stirring halftime haka from hundreds of fans in the memorable 2012 triumph still survives despite the team struggling since hosting Waikato for their seventh Ranfurly Shield challenge in 2013.
The Mooloos were suspiciously fed some dodgy local seafood during their four-day stay but won 65-10 after facing up to East Coast’s haka by performing their own. Parkes and Bartlett are the only surviving players from those years.
Bartlett, who drives up to two hours around the East Cape from Cape Runaway for training and games after finishing his forestry work, is the most capped player in the 2018 squad.
He made his debut in 2008 and said their dedication just typified ‘‘the type of people we are’’.
‘‘After 2012, I did a season in Germany, playing for about eight months, and I had the chance to go back. But when I came home, it was too hard to leave.
‘‘We had an Irishman at first-five [in 2012]. He came into the team as Johnny [Semple] and he left as Ho¯ ne. Whoever we bring into this environment, we always make them feel welcome and they find it hard to leave and easy to come back.
‘‘[Losing] is hard, but with where we are, life in general is quite hard, so we use this as an opportunity to get away and enjoy ourselves. We’re just like one big family. Once we’ve met you, it’s like we’ve known you forever.’’
Paikea, the traditional Nga¯ ti Porou song, welcomed the teams on to the field in Tolaga Bay as locals packed around the pitch in cars in full support of East Coast’s efforts against Wanganui, who won 56-10.
But East Coast were more than competitive, combining fierce hits with flashes of skill – including one outrageous no-look pass from a lineout – in demonstrating the talent and tremendous spirit of rugby on the edge of Earth.