Rugby: Old boys back to guide next crop

Tauranga Boys' College First XV flanker Jonty McCool (left), enjoys a laugh with former college star and Chiefs flanker Tanerau Latimer. Photo/John Borren

It was a special homecoming for three players when the Chiefs squad spent time at Tauranga Boys' College yesterday.

Former First XV stars Tanerau Latimer, Nathan Harris and Carl Axtens helped take this year's team through some drills and games in front of a large, receptive audience of students at Nicholson Field.

Latimer enjoyed coming back to where his career started and passing on advice to today's loose forwards.

"I think it is always special when an old boy visits his school, particularly bringing such a proud team that no doubt this school holds in high regards," Latimer said.

"Visits like today are connections with the community and you have to keep those connections. As soon as you get away from that is when you lose the support of the people around here, so we have to keep doing these for the benefit of the Chiefs franchise."

Latimer was pleased to hear how well Nicholson Field handled the torrential rain that fell last week.

"In my holidays I used to do a bit of work for the school and I actually levelled this field," he said. "I've gone for the crown effect, actually, so the drainage goes real good. I made it high in the middle so it drains away to the sides. It was pretty cool working on it actually, as that was when they built (the hockey turf)."

Tauranga Boys' First XV captain Connor Fifita said the Chiefs' visit was special to his team. "A lot of these guys look up to the players in this team and we understand they have a very busy schedule, so it just means so much they can take time out and share some knowledge and play a few games with us.

"The old boys give us a sense of where we can be and what we can look forward to," Fifita said. "It makes us look up to them even more so because they have been through the system."

The Chiefs spent time with younger rugby stars after leaving Nicholson Field.

A group attended assembly at Matua Primary School, while the rest of the squad went to Paeangaroa for the Barbarians Fun Day, where 20 primary schools from throughout the Bay of Plenty region battled it out in a 10-a-side tournament.