The Wanganui High School mixed touch team ended a four-year journey in Auckland at the weekend to finally win the New Zealand Secondary Schools National title.
The mission began four years ago when most of today's senior players were junior students. They were groomed to meet the demands of this level of competition by vastly experienced coach Sean Brown.
Brown is the New Zealand mixed team captain and has played at the last three world cup tournaments.
He and his team knew they were getting close to gold after losing the mixed final in 2013 and 2014, so it was a huge relief to finally go one further at Bruce Pulman Park in Manukau this season.
"We have six new players, but the remaining team members have been part of those final losses in the last two years, so they were extremely satisfied with the final result," Brown said yesterday.