Rugby league: Waipapakauri Bombers cement first-ever win over Otāngārei Knights team

The Waipapakauri Bombers, with captain Conor O'Sullivan (right) hold the coveted TRL Toa Ariki Grand Final shield. Photo / Peter de Graaf

Around 2000 people turned out to watch one of the most thrilling rugby league grand finals in memory at Waipapakauri Domain on Saturday.

The dusty dirt road leading into the rugby fields was packed with cars as spectators from around Taitokerau and beyond came to watch the 2022 Taitokerau Rugby League grand finals.

Fans of the Ngāti Kahu Sharks and Whangaroa Marlins came to watch their teams play in the Rangatira Cup at 1pm, which saw the Sharks defeat the Marlins 34-26.

This year's Premiership Toa Ariki Grand Final, however, was the main drawcard, with 2021 co-champions Otāngārei Knights and Waipapakauri Bombers seeking redemption after last year's grand final was cancelled due to Covid-19.

The home side started the game off strongly, dominating the first half and appearing to be headed towards a comfortable win.

The second half, however, saw a gutsy comeback by Ōtāngarei Knights — unbeaten all season — who fought their way back to 24-24 at fulltime.

Otangarei Knights fullback Sam Henry goes high for the ball. Photo / Peter de Graaf

This took the match to a Golden Point decider, giving each half five minutes to score a try either via penalty, drop kick or try.

The Whangārei-based team had four attempts to score, missing two penalty conversions and two dropkicks.

After 94 minutes, the Waipapakauri Bombers had also not scored, but were eventually awarded the 2022 TRL title, due to a system based on the first team to score a try in the overall game.

Ōtāngarei Knights protested the win, but according to the TRL rules, Waipapakauri Bombers were the rightful winners on the day.

Waipapakauri Bombers captain Conor O'Sullivan said it was the first time he'd experienced such an intense ending to a game.

He said despite the controversy, he felt the victory was fair and reflected the strong start the team had brought to the game.

"After 10 years of playing, I've never experienced anything quite like that before," O'Sullivan said.

"Despite the protest from the other side for more time, from my perspective as captain, we fully deserved that win and embraced the victory.

"I think it reflects how strong we were from the start and while the Knights did well to catch up, at the end of the day, we did enough to hold on.

"I put that down to our performance in the first 40 minutes."

O'Sullivan said the match was massive for the Bombers and an equally historic moment for Far North league.

This was because the win represented the first time to win over a traditionally dominant Whangārei team.

Waipapakauri Bombers captain Conor O'Sullivan hugs his partner Te Aumihi Jones and young son Hautangaroa moments after the win was awarded to the home side. Photo / Peter de Graaf Taitokerau

He said their victory had solidified the strength of league in the Far North and the high calibre of players it produced.

"The level of playing is no longer unequally weighted in Whangārei and you can see that Far North has a lot of good rugby league players coming through," O'Sullivan said.

"We laid the foundations a year ago to make a statement to raise the level of competition in our region and community.

"For Waipapakauri Bombers, a local grassroots club, this is definitely a first for Northland.

"It's exciting to see a revival of rugby league in the Far North thanks to TRL and Hone
Harawira who paved the way for clubs and communities to come back stronger than ever."

Otāngārei Knights captain Daley Johnson was not so happy about Saturday's outcome.

He said, as a result, the team had lodged an official protest yesterday to the TRL asking
for the rules to be changed or to be at least named joint championship winners.

"We believe we should have played an extra 10 minutes to sort out a proper winner," Johnson said.

"Talking to our leadership, if we had scored the first try, even with that rule, we wouldn't have accepted that outcome and would have asked for more time.

"We put in a lot of effort to get to the final, so to end that way was kind of unbelievable, even the crowd was confused."

Johnson said despite the disappointing result, the Otāngārei Knights would be back again next year and were still happy to be a part of TRL.

Kerikeri Mako's head coach Jason Carr made the trip to watch the grand final, despite his team not making it further in the competition.

Carr has coached teams around the world but said this had been the most humbling experience of them all.

"I've coached some of the world's best players, but there's something very special about TRL," Carr said.

Kerikeri Mako's coach, Jason Carr. Photo / Supplied

"This league is all about family and the community spirit and tradition of standing by each other.

"The aftermatch functions and the culture that comes out, I've never seen anything like it and it's been an absolute privilege to be a part of."

TRL Founder Hone Harawira said the Far North league represented much more than just a game.

He said he was immensely proud of everyone involved at the weekend and over the years.

"It was absolutely stunning and I was really happy for TRL because of how many people came and the standard of play we saw," Harawira said.

"The first game was a great game and saw the Marlins surprisingly caught off guard and run-down by the Ngāti Kahu Sharks.

"The second game was even more intense, with the match decided on countback, so nobody could leave, it was fabulous."

This year the Portland Panthers and Horahora Broncos made the switch to the TRL, following in the footsteps from the Ōtāngarei Knights (2021 joint premiership winners) and the Hikurangi Stags (2021 joint championship winners) the year before.

Horahora merged with the Hikurangi Stags for this season to become Hikurangi Horahora HHH and traditional Whangārei powerhouse Takahiwai now play in Auckland.