Te Awamutu have won an epic Waikato rugby development grand final this afternoon, beating Marist in Hamilton 30-28 after extra time.
It was surely the most dramatic of a series of finals involving Waipā teams – the most notable, Hautapu’s 41-33 win over Marist in Cambridge where Mary Anne Gill had her camera.
See: Hautapu: We are the champions
Leamington won and lost against South Waikato clubs – they beat Tokoroa’s Southern United in the Division 1B final 36-12 where Jeremy Smith was on hand with the camera, and lost at Putāruru 24-17 in the senior As final.
The B-final was close enough at 15-5 by the break, but the home side dominated the scoreboard in the second.
Te Awamutu Sports’ Dillon Martin accepts the development grand final trophy
At Marist’s home ground a battle between two evenly matched teams was decided on the stroke of full time when the hosts opted for and duly missed a penalty.
The match was played in front of a vocal crowd – and the Waipā contingent matched their hosts in noise off the park as well as the players did in both the forwards and backs on it.
Marist led 8-5 after having the better of the first half, but were chasing the game 23-16 down when Dillon Martin scored a last minute try – then converted it – to stun Marist and send the game into extra time.
Te Awamutu then extended the lead in the first half of extra time thanks to some quick thinking by Zealin Prmie – but Marist, have looked spent for part of that spell, turned up the pressure again in the final ten minutes to be rewarded with an unconverted try.
That led to late the decision to opt for a penalty – and when it missed Te Awamutu’s celebrations – and a haka – could begin.
See: Hautapu: We are the Champions
Watch for more in this week’s Te Awamutu News.
