Busy weekend for new age group overseer

Chris Little’s Saturdays have just become a whole lot busier. The rugby administrator and Stoke player has stepped down from the Tasman Rugby Union board to co-ordinate age grade rugby this season.

The new role was created after mediation resolved the bitter schoolboy club rugby wrangle which saw Nelson College threatening to form its own breakaway competition.

“I think I had a bit more to offer in the management space. I am passionate about age grade rugby. The position needed to be filled at short notice so I thought I would jump into it,” says Chris.

It is a fixed 24-week term, and as it is paid, Chris had to give up his place on the board. He’s been replaced by Tasman Mayor Tim King who co-coaches with Chris in the U52kg grade.

The 34-year-old confirms his board stint proved a challenging time.

“I was pretty fresh and new and tried to hold my ground in things I truly believed in,” insists Chris.

There were also immediate challenges in his new role with a change in the registration format for young players.

“Just getting everyone uploaded into a new system is going to be tough but we still got good playing numbers, probably better than expected. The main thing is to get up and running with the split season again this year,” says Chris.

He headed to Motueka first thing on Saturday to watch U52kg, or intermediate rugby, before dashing back to Stoke for the U16 match there. And his club trounced Nelson College 36-7.

Stoke had at least half a dozen Nelson College players, including teenage sprint star Brad Kershaw.

“Hopefully we are all working together now to provide a great outcome for the kids,” enthuses Chris.

That job done for the day, he then turned his attention to struggling Stoke’s Division 1 match against winless Kahurangi.

“To be honest, I didn’t expect to get many playing minutes this year but I have turned out every week.

“I am hoping Stew Cruden (Kahurangi first five) can kick the ball to me and see what happens,” quips the fullback ahead of kick-off.

He duly scored his first try of the season, almost got two, and helped Stoke to a four try bonus point during his 60 minute stint. The only problem was Kahurangi finally returned to its championship form of last year and ran in 10 tries in the 60-20 romp.

That relegated Stoke to last in the Tasman Trophy, on points differential, after four rounds. That wasn’t the only shock with Nelson stunning previously unbeaten Marist 57-47 at Trafalgar Park.

Nelson didn’t win a match least season, defaulted several games and ended up with negative one competition points.

But the club has rebounded under new coach Tom Marshall and back-to-back to wins have taken the side to third on the table. Tom says the bench was key to their success on Saturday after trailing 20-17 at half-time.