By JOHN GASPARICH
Underdogs Glenfield gave the tiger's tail a mighty tug before Takapuna, against the run of play, were able to take a 25-13 win to seal their seventh consecutive club championship at Albany.
Before finals day, Takapuna were unbeaten in 17 outings. Glenfield, albeit while Little was committed to the
Auckland Blues, suffered five losses and just scraped into the playoffs.
Little, still the genius stepping off either foot while probing gaps, was inspirational, but he also enjoyed superb backing from a Glenfield squad.
Up front, the Ferris brothers, Myles and Haydn anchored the tight five. There was support from Fijian Jerry Domu at lineout time, and Paul Turner and Tom Fifita were outstanding in the loose.
Glenfield stole the two tightheads of the match and that was indicative of the relative strengths of the packs.
The Takapuna pack, under pressure from the first quarter, were never allowed to gain composure. Their big boys struggled and loosies Blair Urlich, Rodney Voultaire and Daniel Kane were committed to making tackles and cleaning up the loose ends.
And their backs, apart from two opportunist tries late in the second half, were mostly on the back foot.
Takapuna took the lead when Jeremy Etheridge landed a penalty. Prop Cameron Thomas, son of former All Black Barrie Thomas, then shoved over the line and the favourites were surprisingly ahead 8-0.
That lead was reduced when Myles Ferris was also shoved over the line, Allan Linstrom converting to reduce the deficit to 7-8 at halftime.
In the second spell the lead changed hands four times. Glenfield looked like champions, but the skills, experience and will to win of Takapuna prevailed.
From the brink of defeat, Jerome Smith won a 90m race chasing a kick from within his own 22 to put Takapuna ahead.
Glenfield, with time running out and a converted try needed to win, sent a desperate pass that was gratefully accepted by Mark Camburn, who sprinted 50m to seal Takapuna's victory.
Takapuna 25 (C. Thomas, J. Smith, M. Camburn tries, J. Etheridge 2 con, 2 pen) Glenfield 13 (M. Ferris try, A. Linstrom, con, 2 pen). Ht: 8-7.
