Rugby: Oldies put on colourful display

OLD MATES: Manaia's Brett Yakas is well stopped by the Silverdale Snails defence during Saturday's Wild Magpies Golden Oldies Tournament in Kamo. Fifteen teams were involved - nine from Northland, and six from North Harbour and Auckland - in the tournament which was its third edition. PHOTO/JOHN STONE JS260914NADGOLD019

Seeing Kamo stalwart Mal Matheson beat a couple of defenders and dot down was the highlight of the Wild Magpie Golden Oldies Tournament in Kamo for one organiser.

Tristan Tuckey recounted Matheson's efforts on Saturday with a sense of respect, saying the stalwart beat two defenders to dot down for Kamo.

"I don't want to do him any injustice with his age, but let's just say he was wearing gold shorts," Tuckey said, who is one of the organisers.

The reference to gold shorts relates to Matheson's age, placing him in the 65-69 year age group.

Outside of Matheson's efforts, Tuckey felt the day was a success - with good feedback coming from the 15 teams entered from Northland and Auckland.

"Rugby was the winner on the day," Tuckey said, adding that with golden oldies rugby results were rarely kept. "We had a good time and the weather held off, it was perfect.

"I've had really awesome feedback and it was really good, everyone loved the day and were blown away by the food and hospitality we put on."

He added the spirit and camaraderie of rugby was on display with some teams needing to share players due to a lack of numbers.

"That [player sharing] camaraderie was good, it kind of breaks down barriers. The old rivalries seemed to fade a bit with the sharing and it made sure local teams were playing new guys from the Auckland teams."

Tuckey said a thank you was needed for the 20-odd helpers who mucked in on Friday night to make sure everything was sorted for a successful event. He added the other volunteers who helped out on Saturday were also crucial to the tournament's success.

This year was the third edition of the annual event, with Tuckey saying it was likely the tournament would be back again next year.

Pending any delayed - or renewed - hangovers, Tuckey said there were no injuries that he knew of.

"I think everyone is a little bit sore but there were no injuries I was aware of - except for a few stitches in a head clash."