Coach Trevor Spencer knows only too well how children respond when told something to do on the footy field.
Down 12-5 at halftime, he instructed his young charges in the Tims Construction Saracens team to hoof the ball to the remote corners of the ground to keep Omega Builders Napier East camped there if they wanted to win the Wakely Shield rugby match on day three yesterday.
"Like all kids they just don't listen, do they," Spencer said last night after their nail-biting 17-12 victory over Napier East at Tareha Recreational Reserve in Taradale.
Needless to say, the under-50kg young-and-restless boys showed their weight in gold when they gleaned perhaps more in the dying minutes of their match than they probably will throughout the entire week-long competition.
"It took them the last 10 minutes to do that," said Spencer, who echoed the sentiments of fellow mentors in emphasising the gusty nor'westerlies created havoc for any side running into it.