Mangonui have the wheels on Bay
MANGONUI 65 BAY OF ISLANDS 5 34-0)
Mangonui convincingly walloped their Bay stablemates on a chopped up and heavy track at Arrnold Rae Park on Saturday as sub union rugby came galloping back to the Far North landscape.
The home side had already chalked up a big lead by halftime and continued in the same vein for much of the second by restricting the visitors to a single try. Perhaps the most notable aspect of the onesided match was the Bay team’s utter dominance of the forward exchanges. The irony wasn’t lost on Denny Windleborn, who was part of Mangonui’s coaching team.
“We played to our systems and our structure . . . Just a little lack of commitment in our ruck area,” he said, noting perhaps a lack of fitness prevented the Bay from capitalising. Or, it might have been that age-old nemesis of the local grassroots game, apathy . . .
It was no secret that Mangonui had gone into the game well prepared with a strong turnout reporting for the first training at Taipa the previous Sunday; the four players who reportedly showed up for the Bay’s first muster suffering greatly by comparison. This lack of buy-in almost risked tainting the comprehensiveness of Mangonui’s victory; this from a Bay unit which has traditionally been ambivalent towards previous attempts to resurrect any type of
(HT North Zone and/ or sub union formats.
BOI sub union chairman Bernie Goodhue admitted as much. “We got here a little under-done but I am proud of the fact we fielded a team. To Mangonui, just a pleasure to watch your guys, young, fit, played well on your home turf.”
BOI captain Reagan Hills also acknowledged the elephant in the room by noting it had been a tough day in the office. “To our boys, should have turned up for training,” he said, going on to finish on a more poignant note: “The last time I wore a Bay shirt, I was just a wee fellow. When I pulled it on again [on Saturday], it was a proud moment.”
And that term, ‘buy-in,’ was oft cited in the various aftermatch speeches. Taniwha head coach Derren Witcombe emphasised that the support and profile given to the match by the governing body showed the Northland Rugby Union hadn’t forgotten about its more remote shareholders. “We hope to make this [sub union clash] continual. We know about Far North rugby, [that] it’s not Whangarei. We are investing resources into Far North rugby. I’m from here, it’s important we have a pathway for our locals.”
Witcombe’s point was reiterated by Mangonui gaffer Clayton Murray who pitched in by crediting Eastern coach Dave Jurlina as the main instigator behind the reanimation of the sub union competition, after the Harding Shield had fallen off the provincial programme several years ago through lack of interest. “Winning was obviously a bonus but the purpose of the day was to put a shot in the arm of Mangonui and Bay rugby. As we all know, rugby is not in a great state at the moment.”
Proceedings were wrapped up when Mangonui chairman Barry Murray