Te Puke, winners of the 2024 Tai Mitchell Shield. Photos / Hayden Laidlaw
Te Puke, winners of the 2024 Tai Mitchell Shield. Photos / Hayden Laidlaw
Te Puke have a pretty good record in Tai Mitchell rugby in recent years.
But even the most ardent fan can’t have seen what was coming when the 2024 edition of the tournament began last week.
Te Puke – champions in 2017, 2018 and 2021 – not only won every game, they did it scoring 537 points and conceding none.
In Saturday’s semifinal against Whakatāne, they scored 108 points. Against perennial rivals Tauranga West in Sunday’s final, Te Puke won 64-0 to claim the Tai Mitchell Shield.
Coach Aaron Sutherland was full of praise for the side.
Api Patuawa won the Jim McKinnon Trophy as player of the tournament.
“We had a pretty special group of boys. They’ve got great attitudes and as young men, they just love to play and have pride in their performance – and that’s tackling as much as playing with the ball.”
He says it was that pride that led to the zero in the against column, thought to be the first time a team haven’t conceded a point in the 86-year history of the tournament.
“It wasn’t really a target – it was just a real good attitude around defending or tackling. But as a group, they had a real want to tackle and to work hard at it and obviously we encouraged it, that attitude.
“But it was kind of amongst themselves that it became a thing – we didn’t talk about not having anyone score points against us, it was just kind of unspoken and as it eventuated, that’s what happened.”
Of the 25-player squad, all but one are students at Te Puke Intermediate School, which has had its own rugby academy since 2016.
The academy has been a significant factor in the Tai Mitchell success since.
Simione Rarasea makes a break.
Aaron says one of the pleasing aspects of the performance was that it was the whole team working together and contributing.
“It wasn’t just three or four really talented kids, it was the whole collective.
“And the skill level – you can’t go past the skill level. Anyone who watched them play commented on how high the skill level is and how they understand the game. That and their attitude and the culture in the team I think stems from the rugby academy.”
Aaron has been involved in coaching the Te Puke side since 2017.
“It’s a pretty special group of boys and the best one I’ve had to work with. When you get weeks like that, it makes it pretty enjoyable.”
Te Puke’s Api Patuawa won the Jim McKinnon Trophy as player of the tournament, following in the footsteps of his older brother Wyndham, who was player of the tournament in 2018.
He and Mathew Dodd, Simione Rarasea and Dime Vatuwaliwali were named in the Wasps boys tournament team.
Te Puke’s girls’ team finished fourth in the girls’ competition, narrowly losing to Whakatāne in the third and fourth place playoff. They also won the Best Sportsmanship Team of the Tournament award and Shannon Williams was named in the girls’ Wasps tournament team.
The tournament began in 1938 and was named for Henry Taipōrutu Te Mapu-o-te-rangi Mitchell, Tai Mitchell, a Te Arawa leader in both Māori and Pākehā communities.
It is contested by teams of intermediate school-age players from Rotorua, Te Puke, Whakatāne, Galatea, Rangitāiki and Ōpōtiki, and three from Tauranga.
Result of the boys’ competition: Te Puke 1, Tauranga West 2; Whakatane 3, Rotorua Maroon 4; Tauranga East 5, Tauranga North 6; Galatea 7, Ōpōtiki 8; Rotorua Gold 9, Rangitīkei 10.
Girls’ competition: Tauranga West 1, Tauranga North 2; Whakatāne 3, Te Puke 4; Rotorua Maroon 5, Rangitāiki 6; Tauranga East 7, Opotiki 8; Rotorua Gold 9.
