Mangonui and Bay teams swept away at Dargaville
RODNEY NORTHERN WAIROA 52 MANGONUI 10 The final whistle as darkness closed in on a grey Saturday afternoon in Dargaville proved a mournful sound for Far North rugby supporters, as the southern sub unions regained their domination of the Harding Shield sub-union tournament.
Mangonui were still in the main match at halftime trailing only by 24-10, with the first-half points coming via a try to Murray Blithe, which was converted by Trent Sherlock who also added a penalty. However, any confidence carried over from the comprehensive victory over the Bay of Islands earlier in the month was soon swept off the field as the hosts completely dominated proceedings in the second half, eventually running out convincing winners to claim this year’s title.
Mangonui coach Paul Scutt described this match as one of “David vs Goliath” proportions, Mangonui being the David compared with the resources — read sheer number of contracted Taniwha players — available to the NWR line-up. He also admitted his side hadn’t been at its best, a requisite to be competitive against a team of the opposition’s class, having gone into the game without the two locks used in the aforementioned whupping of the Bay boys.
“No excuses. We made too many unforced errors, turnover ball, missed tackles. The positive? We were competing in the final. There’s a big gap with what you can do up here and what that team [NWR] was, nearly all their players were playing for NPC positions.
“We are still positive, know where we have to get another level as a group,” said Scutt, noting the key for future campaigns was about attracting committed players for key positions and retaining them throughout the series. BAY OF ISLANDS 74 WHANGAREI 5 The traffic was even more one-way in the curtain raiser as Whangarei added to a hapless afternoon for the two Far North sub unions in winning the 3rd/4th play off in the curtain raiser of the double-header.
The Bay side certainly hadn’t given itself much of a chance by not fronting with the best team possible, to the point of being down to only one substitute on the bench and assistant coach Kohai Kingi forced to don a kit and leap in to the fray.
While the clear and obvious standouts were Cameron Goodhue, “outstanding” in the No 8 position, and brother Axel, Bay manager Brent Hewitt knew the final result spoke for itself. He went on to echo the remarks from his Mangonui counter- part, Paul Scutt, in noting Saturday’s results served as evidence the powerbase of sub-union rugby had returned to the south.
“They [Whangarei and Rodney Northern Wairoa] have more resources. Like it or not, we can’t use ITM Cup players to the same extent the southern unions can. You can see that step up,” Hewitt said, adding the Bay hierarchy had to shoulder some of the blame for the difference in class.
“We have just got to sell it [Harding Shield concept] to our players so they are interested in playing for their sub union. We probably haven’t communicated that properly. But if we don’t give our players the option [to play Harding Shield], they are never going to improve,” he said.
In comparison, Hewitt said it was obvious Mangonui had spent a lot of time preparing their team for this year’s campaign: “Yes they got beaten soundly but they played their hearts out.”
Hewitt believed the annual sub union tournament was still relevant for the local club players but felt the battle to remain independent of the NRU mothership may have come at a price. He also wanted to state that a forgettable Harding Shield campaign this time around did not reflect negatively on the Bay comp, which was in good heart, with eight teams having some really good contests so far this year, and several clubs able to boast greater registration numbers than in recent seasons.
And while he still wasn’t confident the Bay players would ever really buy into the currently defunct North Zone club competition (between Bay and Mangonui teams) which some commentators — like Age columnist Mate ‘Mat Talks’ Radich — were advocating, Hewitt was sure about one thing.
“There’s going to be a Harding Shield next year. The coaches have all said that’s what they want to see. At the end of the day we arere proud of the guys who fronted up.”