Touch Champs Photos: 

Last week our senior girls and senior boys competed in the West Zone Touch Football Champs at Waitakere College. Waitakere College provided referees for the day, and they did a great job - and earned credits towards their NCEA qualifications at the same time.

Our girls performed bravely and won a hard-fought game to get into the playoff for fifth and sixth. Coaches Karamea and Monique were proud of their team's efforts all day.

Their report is further below.

Our boys played brilliantly all day, winning all of their games on the way to their semi-final, in which they won 4 - 1 and then on to the final, in which they won 3 - 0.

Coach Tim Taura talked to our boys about a 'purple wall' - a line of purple-shirted defence that moved up and back in disciplined unison. Their wall was not breached in the final - a great achievement.

Our boys were calm under pressure. They had done many hours of practice with coach Tim and so knew their systems, had their plays and kept their discipline.

This year marked six years in a row that our boys have won this competition. I note that new Canterbury Crusaders coach Razor Robinson coached the Crusaders to six consecutive Super Rugby titles before being appointed as All Blacks coach. Hopefully, we can hang on to Mr Taura and not lose him to a 'coaching promotion.'

Report from Coach Karamea on the Girls Senior Touch Team:

What an awesome day:

Unfortunately, we drew two and lost two in our pool round. We ended up drawing on points with Oratia, so we had to play a mini-game with four players for two minutes; no one scored, so we dropped to 3 players. Isla went and scored twice, but the tries were disallowed both times. Paige then scored, and we won the mini. That put us in the playoff for 5th and 6th against Pomaria.

Unfortunately, we lost that game and end up in 6th place.

The girls played incredibly well; I couldn't be more proud. Their sportsmanship for their team and the teams they played against were all encouraging. The girls at the end of each game were excited to play the next game and were saying how much fun they were having.

My absolute legend in today's final game was Isla for her incredible passing and touches. My player of the day, everyone would agree, was Paige; her skills were next level, always getting up fast for touches and saving so many getaways; she was the stand-out player for our team.

We all had fun and enjoyed being away together.