HOGS CAN REALLY FLY
HELENSVALE TAKE TITLE:
THE wait is over.
After 32 years without a first grade premiership, Helensvale’s Gold Coast District Rugby Union dreams finally materialised on Saturday as they pulled off a grand final miracle against Griffith University Colleges.
After trailing 24-0 midway through the first half, the Hogs breathed life into the contest with a converted Steven Finigan try, before the sin-binning of Knights flyhalf Richard Kingi for a high shot on fullback and captain Hayden McCaa turned the game.
Helensvale crashed over through Sean Finigan from the ensuing penalty to narrow the deficit to 12 points at halftime, with tries from Willie Hungahunga, Steven Finigan and Whitney Sitiene after the break helping erase the bitter memories of two previous grand final defeats.
“I’m over the moon. It’s a monkey off the back now, so job done,” Hogs president Karl Wernham said. “You just can’t beat it, it was pretty special. It’s pretty emotional for a lot of us boys, a lot of us have been at the club for a long time.
“I turned to the wife (at 24-0 down) and she was starting to stress a bit but we knew we had the right bunch of boys.
“We have broken the curse so we want to start a bit of a dynasty and keep it going. A few of us will hang up the boots but I think most of the boys will be back.”
The Knights dominated the early exchanges as tries from Siosiua Havea (two), Lesi Tawake and Taniela Tuiuanuavou helped them take a seemingly unassailable lead.
But the Kingi yellow card, which knocked out McCaa and saw him taken to hospital, proved pivotal.
It was one of several spiteful incidents during the game, with Cameron Dodd (Knights) and Jamie Walker (Helensvale) sent off for punching, and Harrison Cumming (Colleges) sin-binned for a swinging arm.
“Richard Kingi put a shot on Hayden McCaa and knocked him out and he went to hospital on a stretcher. That was the moment that f **** d Colleges,” Wernham said. “That was when we lifted.” Helensvale also won the second grade decider against Knights 20-18, while Coomera downed Colleges 10-7 to claim the third grade silverware.
The girls’ sevens crowns went to Coomera (under-13 and 17) and to Nerang (under-15).
YOU JUST CAN’T BEAT IT, IT WAS PRETTY SPECIAL. IT’S PRETTY EMOTIONAL. HOGS PRESIDENT KARL WERNHAM