Taumarunui Districts celebrate winning the Meads Shield in Taupō on Saturday
King Country Club Rugby finals were well and truly great advertisements for the brand on Saturday with a brilliantly fine Taupo day and a dry pitch contributing to the event.
The early game between Taupo Sports and the Taumarunui Eels went pretty much to script with King Country representative players dominating proceedings and Taupo first five Cam Rollison and Rams skipper Liam Rowlands both prominent.
The 50–17 scoreline was a testament to the Lakesider’s dominance throughout but great credit must go to The Eels for riding out the removal of some Fijian players and making great strides forward over the season.
The ground filled up noticeably with spectators as the main game countdown began and great support for Taupo Marist and Taumarunui Districts was rewarded with a stunning match-up between the two top qualifiers.
After a settling in period, it was Marist who opened the scoring after nine minutes when hard working flanker Josh Reinfield scored a try which was converted by Josh White, 7–0.
Shortly after it was Districts who set the match alight with one of the best team tries to grace Owen Delany Park. It began when livewire fullback Styris Harland fielded a bomb on his goal line before bursting away from flailing cover defenders.
He was finally lowered about halfway and the Districts pack tore into the ruck and with slick passing through the backs right wing Palu side stepped the last defender before racing across in the corner. Hiwawa Kahu put the icing on the cake with a great side line conversion, 7–7.
Marist fought back and scored after a melee in the score board corner before Levison Gower replied for Districts and Kahu nailed another sideline conversion before slotting a 45 metre penalty right on halftime to put the visitors ahead 17–12.
The early part of the second spell belonged to the Districts pack as they took control with Joe Curiki a colossus at prop and they were soon rewarded with a try when the Marist pack were pushed off the ball and Siva scored 22–12.
From the 17th to 22nd minutes Districts blew the game apart as Beban and Harland scored tries and Nathaniel Smith took over the kicking duties to seal a 34–12 scoreline with 15 to go.
Marist then showed real heart in a fight back and the Rams centre Baravalala gave the defence a sign of his class sprinting 70 metres down the embankment touchline to score before Harlan dotted down for a second try to put the issue beyond doubt 39–17.
Marist prop Tom Ryan finished the scoreline off with a highly deserved touch down late in the game but the Meads Shield was on the way to Taumarunui 39–22.
Harland, Gower, Kahu, Smith and big prop Curiki who chugged through 72 minutes and dominated scrum time were all outstanding for the victors but the whole team and coach Matt Lord deserve all the kudos thrown their way as one wise spectator explained “they looked like a real team”.
