Local juniors will don their boots for the last time this winter and make their bid for World Cup glory in the finals of the Mangonui JMB season at Arnold Rae Park on Saturday.
Among the sub union's best players strutting their stuff in the cauldron of finals footy in the under-9 grade will be those from the Mangonui rep team; having played beside each other earlier this month but since returned to their respective clubs, players will find themselves up against former teammates.
Of this year's rep campaign, Mangonui U9s coach Robb Schrafft noted that while the team lost both its encounters, to Whangarei in Taipa on August 10 and Bay of Islands in Kerikeri on August 17, these up-and-coming stars enjoyed a great couple of games in Mangonui colours.
"They played like warriors," he said, noting it was an admirable effort considering most of the players had only been cobbled together a day or so beforehand, adding that selection into a sub union rep side provided these young guns with the opportunity of a lifetime.
"This is were it all starts," said Schrafft, adding special thanks to Alan Tubbs and Brett Larkin for their help during the campaign.
