ANTICIPATION is high this week with Northland rugby's Roller Mills team due to be named after another successful Taniwha Cup competition at Centennial Park in Wellsford.
Primary school-aged players from the Bay of Islands and Mangonui teams will be expected to take the lion's share of places after nothing could separate
them in the Taniwha Cup tournament that started on August 5.
The two teams were the standouts after the week-long competition and shared the cup after beating all the other sub-union teams and drawing the match between them 12-all on Thursday.
Mangonui had the better of the first spell and led 5-0 at the break after an Ashley Sylvar try.
The Bay of Islands rallied in the second spell to level the scores with tries to Jevon Halvorson and Michael Bethel and a conversion from the boot of Tom Smith.
A Harley Campbell try, converted by Josh Mane, were Mangonui's only points of the second spell and, although both sides had opportunities to win, a penalty attempt by Smith went closest to breaking the deadlock, just slipping under the bar, to leave the two sides level at the final whistle.
With comfortable wins against Northern Wairoa and the Whangarei Grizzly Bears under their belt before the Mangonui match, Bay of Islands went on to beat Rodney/Otamatea 31-5 and Hokianga 62-5 to remain unbeaten in the competition.
Likewise, Mangonui started with victories over Rodney and Northern Wairoa before rounding out their campaign with big wins over Hokianga and Whangarei.
Rodney finished third overall in the battle for minor placings with wins over Northern Wairoa, Whangarei and Hokianga.
One of the tournament organisers, Hector Davies, said regardless of who won or lost, the tournament was enjoyed by players and parents alike.
"When teams like Hokianga, who struggle to get 22 kids in the same age group every year, front up to some of the big boys and go well, that makes it a great tournament."
The experience of playing over the week made the tournament memorable for the boys too.
"For most of them, it's their first big tournament and, because they stay away for a week, for most of them it's their first time away at a rugby camp," Davies said.
The Northland Roller Mills team will be announced at the end of the week.
