Goldies return

The last of the Cook Islands Diplomats golden oldies rugby players have finally made it home after what was a highly enjoyable Golden Oldies Festival hosted by Sydney, Australia.

The Diplomats along with members of the Avatiu-Nikao golden oldies and other local players who joined teams in Australia – made the trip to Australia for the 18th rugby festival.

Diplomats scribe ‘Indian’ shares some of the highlights of the festival:

Our second game was against the lads from Moscow.

We started off with a round of vodka shots but surprisingly the local lads did not enjoy it but a good game was had by all and the language barrier was overcome by players intermingling with our side.

We were happily joined by Chartered Towers Knacked Bulls who we were with at the Edinburgh Festival.

Our third game was against Hong Kong who were business men from there, again it was most enjoyable with all our ladies playing for us plus the likes of Papa Bill Cowan and Papa Poku as at this stage there were a few injuries from our main players.

The ‘Finale Evening’ was spectacular but most of us had to get early airlines to New Zealand and Cairns.

We would like to acknowledge the Cook Island Communities in Sydney and Cairns for the way they looked after us and it was a pleasure to meet relations and old friends as well as new ones.

We look forward to the next tournament in Fukuoka, Japan.