Champagne win by CI parliamentarians

If the parliamentarian rugby world cup was up for grabs on Wednesday – the Cooks would’ve been crowned world champions and sipping champagne from the cup after outmuscling their Kiwi counterparts 17-10 in what was a bruising encounter at the BCI Stadium.

Before all the on and off field action – a minute of silence was observed for staunch golden oldies rugby supporter and player, the late Sir Terepai Maoate, who had played in the previous two parliamentarian rugby games.

On the field both sides were evenly balanced with a mix of young fit flyers and die hard golden oldies rugby players. But it was the local lads who played with fire in their belly from the very start, scoring the first try through young golden oldies player Sonny Pureau.

Leader of the opposition Wilkie Rasmussen got his hands dirty at the bottom of the ruck, while minister of sport and finance Mark Brown skillfully moved the ball around the park supported by financial secretary Richard Neves.

But it was the brute force of league president Charlie Carlson and Lucky ‘Lux’ Matapuku in the forwards that really impressed with their bone crunching tackles and big busting breaks.

Arorangi School principal Vae Unuka showed he still has his ‘back in my day’ skills.

Kiwi league legend and Cook Islands Sports Academy tutor Kevin Iro controlled the backs with the teams ‘younger’ players Tiri Toa, Alfred Manu and the rest making good yards too.

One of the ‘highlights’ of the game would have to be the sideline busting run by Ruaau member of parliament William ‘Smiley’ Heather.

Heather busted his way through a rolling maul, stole the ball off the Kiwis before bursting down the sideline and into a Kiwi defender who he grinned at as he was grounded in typical Smiley style.

Of course the Kiwis gave as good as they got with well worked tries but it wasn’t until the visitors got a blast from former All Black and team coach Richie Guy that they really amped up their game.

The visiting team also included couple of ‘local’ faces on side to spice things up including Cook Islands News reporter Matiu Workman, who did his fare share of work in the forwards battle.

In the end it was the Cooks that walked away with the hard fought win, however there was no trophy to lift up high – just bragging rights until the next time the two teams meet.

Cooks coach George George said all the players were proud of their efforts and to come away with the win, but after the game they wondered where the parliamentarian world cup trophy was, after being shown off by the holders of the cup beforehand.

Both teams headed for a therapeutic swim in the Nikao lagoon before a long debrief of the game at Rose’s garden.