Montel Panapa (left) and Liam Enese (right) with their team's co-coach, Isi Vainikolo. Photo / Supplied
Montel Panapa (left) and Liam Enese (right) with their team's co-coach, Isi Vainikolo. Photo / Supplied
Te Arawa welcomed home two young Maori boys to Rotorua who are on a whirlwind tour with their championship Gold Coast U14 team, the Coomera Crushers.
Montel Panapa (Tuhourangi, Ngati Pikiao) and teammate Liam Enese (Ngati Whaoa, Ngati Tahu) took to the field in Reporoa last Friday against a ReporoaCollege Invitational XV, a game which saw the lead change on many occasions, before ending in a nail-biting draw (40-40).
The boys from the Gold Coast backed it up the next day with a valiant effort against a fired-up Western Heights Invitational XV but went down in a high-scoring game 60-48.
Crushers co-coach and former Reporoa and Bay of Plenty player Isi Vainikolo was pleased with their efforts in those two games despite the differences in the physical nature and intensity of our schoolboy rugby here.
The third game was against Taupo-nui-a-Tia College XV, which was a fast and free-flowing match with both teams scoring length-of-the-field tries, ending in a victory for the Australian side 38-34.
The two Rotorua boys saved their best for last, and with great sideline support, their sharp, precision passing, brutal tackling and silky skills beamed through.
Although living on the Gold Coast, both boys hope to one day return to Aotearoa and wear the All Blacks jersey. Meantime, they will take up every opportunity they get on the Gold Coast and continue to play in the schoolboy competition there.
