The promise of Northland's high school rugby league players continues to excite after Kaitaia College were crowned Adam Blair Trophy winners.
Skill, physicality and speed were all part of the mixture as the match, against Kamo High School, had everything a grand final could have wanted, with the winner being decided in the final few plays.
Rugby League Northland general manager Alex Smits explained how on Friday night Kaitaia's captain, Sean Windelborn-Rawiri, saw a defender offside and ran at him to bust through, before offloading to Michael Larkin to score under the post - giving them the win by 22-16. "What a game," Smits said in awe. "There really wasn't anything to separate the two teams throughout the game."
Smits said despite pre-game believing Kaitaia were more a team of raw talent, he was proven wrong as Kaitaia standoff Josh Mane-Akulu spread the ball around the field as they attacked. "Mane-Akulu's passing was fluid, and he had the ability to not only punch through middle but also get ball wide. If Kamo weren't such a well-drilled team it would have been a one sided affair."
In the plate final, Bay of Islands beat Dargaville 14-4, while in the third and fourth playoff Whangarei Boys' High School dominated Northland College 58-8.
