THE measure of the Stockman Rugby squad was put to the test on Monday when they ran out against the Papakura Rugby Football Club. Papakura play in the Counties Manukau competition and despite a disappointing finish to the season by their standards, they arrived with a willingness that became evident from the kick-off.
The Stockman team was led out by Caloundra Rugby Union product and 2017 tour captain Richie Smee, who was enjoying his second Stockman stint, having toured to Ireland with the Stockies in 2013. The visitors crossed early through star Northern Suburbs colt and Rowena local, Jack Radford in the opening minutes. Radford put on an impressive man of the match performance in his first senior rugby outing, having only ever competed at Colts levels prior to the tour.
Radford then crossed the chalk for a second time, in a try that was converted by Walcha rugby’s Simon Newton to push the Stockman out to a 12 point lead. Newton was solid at inside centre and was quick to forge a strong alliance with Sunnybank layer and Stockman flyhalf, Josateki Murray.
But it was the battle up front where the match was hard fought and won. A line break from Barron Trinity Bulls and Far North Queensland Rugby captain Cameron Thomson, led to the try of the match. The ball passed through another four sets of forwards hands before Wanderers Rugby Newcastle backrower Marcus Christensen crossed in the corner. This was the fifth of six tries that the team put on, eventually finishing the game with a 36-19 win to the Australian country touring side.
Australian Stockman Rugby founder Theresa Acton said “It was great to see some of the younger players make a solid account of themselves and the senior players step up and lead by example, we expect as the team become more familiar with each other they will continue to develop and build on this performance.”
The Stockies started day four with a light training run and the forwards also took the time to hone their skills under the tutelage of former Wallaby Guy Shepherdson and former Brumby and Queensland Red Ben Coutts. The players have taken every opportunity to learn what they can from the leaders of the pack and their eagerness has already begun to bear fruit.
The players then took advantage of some down time to rest up before their focus quickly turned to the matter at hand – the Auckland Police. The Police have only recently finished competing in the New Zealand Police National Rugby Championship and with a strong and successful history in the annual competition, the they were keen to make amends for their loss to the Canterbury Police in the final.
As expected the Police started strongly and the Australian country boys struggled to handle the physicality in the early exchanges, which led to two quick police tries in the opening 25 minutes. Former Wallaby prop and star import Guy Shepherdson’s tour was cruelly cut short when he ruptured his Achilles tendon in the opening stanza. He made a major contribution to the success of the tour and to the on-field development of the country players selected.
The boys started well after the break with some sage advice from coaches and former Wallabies Chris Roache and Tony Melrose at half time. The Stockman boys closed the gap through a try to Ben Coutts in the 45th minute after some great lead-up work from the forwards. The Stockman dominated possession in the second half and soon drew level when Simon Newton converted a try by winger Angus Windred. That takes his tour tally to two and no doubt twin Lachlan will be keen to close the gap during the fixtures Argentina.
The Auckland Police regained the lead through a penalty on the back of some ill-discipline by the Stockman although it wasn’t long before the scores were again drawn. But any hope the Auckland side had of again regaining the lead were dashed when the Stockman kicked their second penalty and outside centre and Mackay Rugby player Mona ‘Fatal’ Tietie put the game beyond doubt with a no nonsense try in the dying minutes.
Caloundra flanker Josh Adams was rewarded for his tireless efforts with the Vegemite Award for a man of the match performance. He was relentless in defence and his ball running provided the go forward for the pack, that was lacking in the first half. Burdekin lock, Tubby Heron was awarded the chilli award for his red-hot efforts and NSW Country prop Alex ‘Beatle’ Wilson received the coveted Spartan helmet for his uncompromising toughness. Mona ‘Fatal’ Tietie picked up the Monster Award for a monster second half hit, which was heard from as far away as the carpark.
Head coach Chris Roche said “While New Zealand has been fantastic preparation for the group and we are pleased with the wins, there remains a lot of hard work ahead of us throughout the South American leg of the tour, we’ll enjoy this victory and turn our focus to the first fixture in Argentina against Los Tordos rugby union.”
The Stockman boast a truly national flavour with players from as far and wide as Perth, Melbourne, Mossman, Newcastle, St George, Townsville and Tamworth.