Tuesday, October 10, 2017
BRUTAL defence was shown from Omarumutu’s own line to hold on and win Sunday’s final. OB3094-9
Ross McCullough
ALTHOUGH the number of teams registered for this year’s Muriwai Tournament was down on last year, all those who did attend, and who put pride on the line for their hapu/iwi looked to be relishing the opportunity to enjoy a social sporting event that brings whanau together.
The tournament aims to promote whanaungatanga, shared experiences and connection celebrating harmonious relationships and wellbeing.
It began on Thursday with the junior basketball at Ashbrook School, with some silky basketball skills on display by all the teams, but it was Hika ruku tai who came out on top over Omarumutu in the final 11-8.
Senior basketball was held later in the afternoon at the Opotiki College gym.
At Memorial Park on Friday, it was the turn of tamariki who took part in rugby, netball and kapa haka competitions.
The senior netball and rugby was played at the same venue on Saturday in perhaps the best weather conditions of the weekend. Netball finals were, for the first time, played the same day and Sunday was reserved for the A and B rugby finals.
These were two bone-crunching encounters that kept the large crowds entertained, despite the unpleasant weather.
The B final went the way of Terere, who jumped out to an early 5-0 lead.
However, Waiaua weren’t going to lie down and mounted a stern comeback before second five-eight Jessie King, who had travelled up to the tournament from Hawkes Bay, dotted down for the decisive score for Terere – much to the delight of their jubilant supporters.
It was a similar situation in the A final with Omarumutu controlling play well to maintain a slender lead well into the second half, but almost inevitably, Waioweka would mount a comeback too, with Omarumutu needing to defend their line stoically as Waioweka kept crashing the ball up only to be repelled time and time again.
After closing the gap by crossing the line twice, Waioweka just couldn’t get over for another and Omarumutu won by 17-12 before the celebrations began for them.