Rugby picks up double success at awards

Rugby was a dual winner at the 2005 Wairarapa sports awards in Masterton last night.
The Wairarapa-Bush rugby side was named Team of the Year and their coach Peter Russell was named Sports Administrator of the Year.
It was a popular victory for the Wairarapa-Bush team, which created history when they beat Buller in the final of the NPC third division series.
Never before had Wairarapa-Bush won an NPC title and their victory came in the very last third division competition.
From next season onwards there will be just two NPC divisions with Wairarapa-Bush playing at second division level then.
It is normal for four finalists to be chosen for each of the categories in the sports awards but such was the success of Wairarapa teams on the national and provincial sporting fronts over the past 12 months that the Team of the Year section had six finalists last night.
Joining the Wairarapa-Bush rugby side there were two hockey sides, the Wairarapa College girls first XI that won the country's top secondary school girls tourney, the Federation Cup, and the Wellington secondary schools title, and the Wairarapa senior women;s side that won the national division one title.
Also in the reckoning were the Masterton Swimming Club under-16 boys medley relay team which claimed the bronze medal at the national age group championships, the Wairarapa senior netball team which won the inaugural regional league title and the Wairarapa United men's soccer team which won the Capital division one competition.
The winning of the NPC third division title by Wairarapa-Bush was always going to make their selector-coach Peter Russell a serious contender for the Sports Administrator of the Year award and he had a powerful second string to his bow, having also been named as assistant coach of the New Zealand divisional rugby side that toured Fiji.
His challengers for the administrative award were Ricky Blade, coach of the highly successful Wairarapa College first XI girls hockey team that went unbeaten through 25 matches last season, Graeme Morris, chief executive of Petanque New Zealand and manager of national sides to the Oceania and world championships, and Wayne Thurston,one of the country's highest ranked wrestling referees who controlled bouts at the Deaf Olympics in Melbourne and at both the New Zealand and Australian championships.
Winner of the Junior Sports Personality of the Year was Stevie Paine, who is currently in Australia representing New Zealand at the Seventh Pacific School games in Melbourne.
She is just 10 but won the under-12 girls race at the North Island cross country championships at Taupo as well as a host of other athletic titles on the local front over the past season.
Other finalists for the junior award were the winner of five titles at the New Zealand Horse of the Year Show, Henry Booth, who is also currently across the Tasman representing New Zealand, outstanding hockey player Dion Field and Sonny Wimutu, who repped for Wairarapa-Bush at two codes, rugby and soccer, during the winter months.
The effort of Richard Mason is winning an enthralling race for the New Zealand rally championship was rewarded with him being announced as the Senior Sports Personality of the Year. He won the championship despite missing one round.
Also in contention for the senior award were national ultra-marathon representative Graeme Butcher, Elizabeth Perry, who has repped for New Zealand age group teams in hockey and Central Districts age group and senior teams at cricket and William Prior, winner of a bronze medal in the 200m freestyle at the Australian age group champs and a standout performer for the New Zealand 16 years and under team in a transtasman series against two Australian teams.