Rugby: Wellsford surge to claim premier title

Wellsford loose forward Conor Lawson played a key role in his side's premier-title victory over Mid Northern. Photo/ Michael Cunningham

A gallant 29-12 win over Mid Northern capped a sterling season for Wellsford, the Bayleys Southern Districts Premier competition's newly-crowned champions.

Admirable on defence and relentless on attack, Wellsford made the most of their opportunities at Toll Stadium to undo their rivals in emphatic fashion.

Wellsford coach Ross Neal couldn't hide his delight as the final whistle sounded.

"It was all from a good start," Neal said of his team's ability to break their finals hoodoo.

"The boys were focused right at the start of the game, played to our game plan and got a few points up.

"That second half took a bit of grinding out, it was a bit ugly, but we got there."

Also praising the efforts of his assistant coach, Brad Te Haara, Neal said he'd be looking to reunite their successful partnership for next year's title defence.

Trailing and on the back foot from the start, Mid Northern were set a huge task to compose a rebuttal as Wellsford built up a 24-0 lead at halftime.

Wellsford, who had a strong emphasis on defence throughout their season, were able to set their line early and keep Mid Northern behind the gain line, a tactic which eventually shut their Hukerenui rivals out of the match.

No stranger to finals footy, Mid Northern coach Craig Edwards had his fingers crossed for a different outcome in his last match at the helm.

"We just let ourselves down by mistakes," Edwards said.

"Dropped ball, our lineouts -- they just shut us down.

"Our [defence] wasn't quite there -- they chucked everything at us [and] it took us a while to get into the game.

"I'm retiring, that's it - I've had a good run. We've got a lot of young fullas coming through and a few older fullas need to step aside.

"I think I've been with Mid Northern for 10 years - I've been in enough finals to get used to them I suppose, but it would've been good to get the win today [Saturday], that's for sure."

With a light drizzle flowing across Toll Stadium during the last quarter, Wellsford played out a good portion of the second half with 14 men as a result of the Wright brothers [Ross and Matt] both spending time in the sin bin.

This gave Mid Northern an obvious advantage to capitalise on but, surprisingly, the Wellsford defensive effort lifted to another level despite many of their players heaving for breath during stoppages.

Brooding on their loss as Wellsford's supporters ran amuck on the field at the end of play, Mid Northern limped from the field battered after being one of the frontrunners for the 2015 title.

As Hunter S. Thompson once said: "For every moment of triumph, for every instance of beauty, many souls must be trampled".

In this moment of triumph, Mid Northern were the trampled souls, Wellsford the tramplers.