League: Nothing separates teams in final clash

The last six weeks' worth of high school rugby league all boils down to tomorrow night's final at Hikurangi when Kamo takes on Kaitaia for the Adam Blair Trophy.

Both sides go into tomorrow's 7.15pm kick-off with momentum under their belts, especially Kaitaia College who put the hurt on defending champions Whangarei Boys' High School in last week's semi.

Kamo High School, on the other hand, has been consistent all season in accounting for their opponents by suffocating them on defence.

Rugby League Northland general manager Alex Smits said he would struggle to pick a winner due to the nature of rugby league, where a game can turn on its head easily.

"The final is going to be an exciting game," Smits said. "Kaitaia have been very dominant in their area and obviously they beat Boys' High, which is the first time they've been knocked out of the tournament.

"[Whereas] Kamo are a well-drilled side. Joe Henare and Peter Gray have done a lot of work with them in terms of building a culture and a team."

Smits said the final would be a match between raw talent versus a well-drilled team, which would create an exciting match.

He added that he thought the Adam Blair Trophy as a tournament had been a success in his view, as more young players sign up to the code.

"The quality of the games on the field has been outstanding [and] the raw quality of some of the players was amazing."

Henare, who is Kamo's coach, said his side's build-up to tomorrow's game has been fairly relaxed with emphasis put on treating the match as nothing special.

"We're approaching it as nothing out of the ordinary," Henare said. "It will just be business as usual for us. Why change a winning formula?

"We're just trying to keep it as normal as possible, [because] there's no point in playing the occasion rather than the game."

While the two teams have progressed to final, Henare said he was yet to get a glimpse of the opposition in action.

"I haven't seen Kaitaia play, so hopefully our structure can help us out on Friday. [At the end of the day], every dog has its day and we're just hoping [tomorrow] is our day."

Smits said after the success of the Adam Blair XIII's match against the Warriors Development team there would be a rematch against them on April 22.

Also playing tomorrow will be the third/fourth play off and the plate final. Action on the day starts at 4.30pm.