LEAGUE - Death-defying Lee back on the field

IT takes more than 400 volts to keep a good, keen man sitting on the sidelines.
Lee Wihone, aka the lucky linesman, played his first game of league for Marist on Saturday, since he became the first man in New Zealand history to survive a 400-volt electric shock, while working for Northpower last July.
Wihone said he's been poked and prodded by doctors on a regular basis since the accident, but they had been unable to come up with any reason why he shouldn't pull his boots back on this season.
"It's all good, but nobody's ever survived a 400-volt shock before so it's new ground for everybody, including the doctors, to work through," he said. "I've also been to psychiatrists and neurosurgeons and who knows what else, but everything's okay ... the company has been really good and I still go down to get a regular ECG to see if my heart is still healthy, and so far it is."
The only thing that still bothers him about the accident was the loss of memory, both from the week before the accident and the week directly afterwards.
The 37-year-old said he's had something of a new lease of life since the accident, and to prove it played the entire match without substitution.
His team Marist made the early running at Portland, but his first match end in defeat for Wihone.
"It's my first game back, obviously I was fit enough to play again last year, but I couldn't get clearance [from the doctors] to play, so I've been looking forward to it and I think we did all right out there today considering we've only five or six of us back from last year," he said.
One thing that has remained the same since last year has been the capacity of his teammates to take the mickey out of him - only now their material has changed.
"I'm still getting plenty of comments like, it must have been a shocking experience and other pieces of [so-called] humour," he laughed.
But he takes it all in his stride and why wouldn't you if you are something of a medical marvel?
* Portland come back from the wilderness
PORTLAND showed signs of life after a couple of years in the rugby league wilderness on Saturday by comfortably beating Marist 52-32.
Portland coach Sam TeNamu was all smiles after the game and said it was the kind of performance his team had been hoping for before the match.
"We're pretty happy with that all right, we were planing to get a good start and that's how it turned out today," he said.
TeNamu said he was especially happy about how the team had edged their way back into the game after Marist dominated proceedings early on.
Marist, despite having only two players on the bench, were the better organised team in the opening quarter and capitalised on early Portland nerves to get on the board first.
Tries to Hopa Woodhead, Herewini Edmonds, Herbert Smith and Peta Fa'alogo gave them a 16-0 lead, with just 10 minutes to go before the break.
Hemi Shelford capitalised on the tiring Marist side to score two tries for Portland, narrowing the gap to a four-point deficit and giving them a huge morale boost before the break.
The momentum swing continued early in the second half and Portland were able to get a roll on, with Marist mistakes and a run of penalties adding to the home team's cause.
Portland scored tries to Kayden Currie, Thomas Henare, Israel Tahere, Justin Pariona, Dane Guttenbeil and Wayne Price before Marist emerged from their stupor.
Marist gave the score a measure of respectability by striking back with tries to Lance Edmonds, Selwyn Ihaia and Herewini Edmonds, who looks full of promise this year.
New Portland signing Jackson Katene had the last say for the home team, with the final score 52-32.
Marist were disappointed with the effort, but given that they were thrown out of the competition last week and struggled to get a team together they didn't look too bad, and could easily be a threat at the business end of the league. Kaikohe Lions beat Northern Wairoa 36-22 in a match that was a lot closer than many expected.
The Dargaville side were on the rack at the beginning of the game and were forced to play catch up for the rest of the match, but for a team without too much experience, they too showed plenty of promise.
Bay Slayers are another team finding their feet in the competition and they weren't helped by coming up against a fired up Moerewa Tigers outfit, hellbent on winning the Denis Davis Memorial Trophy.
The Slayers were a man short but still competed well in the first spell, before Moerewa found another gear and cruised away to a 72-16 win.
"It was a good start for us to hold them with that many players on the park but after a while it became a numbers game and they ran over us," the Slayers' Justin Webster said.
Ngawha Saints took their first win of the season, but in disappointing circumstances, by virtue of the controversial Takahiwai first round default.