On Thursday 10th of May, we entered into the Year 7 and 8 Quick Rip tournament held in Tikipunga. Although it was the students first time playing a new version of Rippa Rugby, they were absolutely amazing, winning 3 out of 4 games. Our last game saw us play a really polished Kamo team who knew and exploited every tactic available to them. Although we came 2nd, we were the only team on the day to score against them twice, thanks to some slick passing and individual brilliance from our top try scorer for the day, Baylin Connett. The highlight of the day came when a Wellsford coach approached us and asked if we could please give Ethan, a young boy with a prosthetic leg, a decent run in our game. Our Kura’s sportsmanship ethics kicked in and everyone decided to give him a really good go. He had people diving at him left right and centre but managed to evade all our attempts at his tags. He would have scored but he confused the try line and the 5-metre line and put the ball down on the wrong one. The smile on his face and that of his coach was absolute gold, but the real treat came when the hooter sounded not long after. In complete astonishment, his teammates approached him asking, “Why don’t you play like that all the time?” Definitely a moment to remember for us all.

A huge thanks to Ayla, Tahlia, Piper, Luke, Lucas, Aroha, Mokoia, Kayla, Te Arani, Baylin and Malachi for a fantastic day– Raymonde Huriwaka