Old club rugby rivalry renewed

Waimea Old Boys coach Scott McKenzie has welcomed the return to the “good old days” of clashes with Marist.

The unbeaten sides meet in the top of the table Tasman Trophy match at Trafalgar Park tomorrow night (Thursday), and Scott hopes it is not going to be another decided by a single point.

“I felt like three years in a row, they were one pointers. I don’t want any more of those,” he recalls at Jubilee Park training.

Good memory, as Waimea indeed beat Marist 49-48 at Trafalgar Park in 2021 with Campbell Parata slotting the deciding penalty goal.

Marist has racked up 110 points in its first two games, but “Macca” hopes his side may have the fitness edge.

“That is a credit to Demi Sultan. She did a heck of a lot of work with us. She flogged the boys, didn’t take any prisoners,” insists Scott.

Job done, the former Tasman Mako inside back and Nelson Bays touch star has just left for Australia.

“We know what Marist will bring. Big up front and some sharp backs, but hopefully we can get on top or at least gain some parity and give our backs a chance as well,” says Scott.

A key figure in that promises to be Harry Horncastle who has impressed in his first two club matches since leaving Waimea College.

But the 19-year-old acknowledges he has a weight problem – he needs to pack more on to his frame.

“I am eating as much as I can as I need to put on heaps, but I can’t seem to do that,” reveals the 93-kilogram blindside flanker.

It is not as though Harry has time to sit around and feed up though. He leaves home at 6am to work for Edridge Contracting and then heads straight to training four days a week, two at Jubilee Park and two with the Crusaders Academy in Tasman.

“Three days after I left high school I started out driving rollers, and now I’m on dumpers and diggers. It is great fun,” declares last year’s Waimea United captain.
He will come up against a couple of former Nelson College loose forwards, Linton Laiseni and Teina Thompson, who have joined Marist.

“I remember playing them from before high school. They were pretty big back then,” remembers the player nicknamed “Horny”, who was a halfback before he started growing.

He will notice a difference in his two rivals, too. Since finishing college, the second cousins are sporting moustaches and beards while Harry would rather add weight than whiskers.

The match starts at 6.30pm with Waimea hoping to relieve Marist of its silverware – the John Goodman Trophy and Frank Monopoli Cups.

Sin bin confusion causes consternation

If a Waimea Old Boys player gets sin binned against Marist tomorrow night, you can guarantee he will be hightailing it to the naughty chair.

Confusion reigned after Waimea loose forward Theo Simone was yellow carded right on half-time, for offside, in their round two match against Nelson at Trafalgar Park.

The 19-year-old sauntered around to half-way to spend his 10 minutes on a chair.
The problem was the stand down period didn’t begin until he reached the chair.
“We were a little bit dark around that ruling. It is not Super Rugby. Generally, you just go behind the goal posts and that’s where Theo went,” says Waimea coach Scott McKenzie.

“I hadn’t sat down. I didn’t know I had to until the linesman told me,” confirms Theo.

Ironically, that official was Waimea rugby identity Steve Petrie, but there were no hard feelings later.

“The rulings seem to differ from ground to ground so we have asked the Tasman Rugby Union for clarification,” says Scott.

Theo is one of Waimea’s most effective players and in his absence Nelson scored two quick tries to hit the front, and threatened to pull off an upset.

“We were getting hammered when Theo was off the field,” admits fellow loose forward Harry Horncastle.

The return of the Samoan-born Garin College old boy put paid to that happening.
The Talley’s cool store worker won’t be putting any of Marist’s “big boys” on ice as his side can’t afford to lose him.

“There is nothing we can’t handle and hopefully we can beat them on the edge,” concludes the former Garin-Marist Combined schoolboy player.