Youth prevail

In the Golden Oldies rugby game played at Nikao on Friday July 20 it was a clash of the young and older captains in Iona Taiki and Tom Wills respectively.

Within two minutes Taiki’s team scored two tries through some quick moves by Mac Mokoroa and speedsters Mike and Ake.

Slow and steady, Papa Tom wowed his team on and through combined forward and backline attacks tries ensued to Mona Ioane, Dawn and Pete.

Johny H copped warnings from referee Takaiti for ‘roughing-up’ the red shorts and was lucky to avoid being given a yellow card.

Helmet Puna, who earlier on crashed over the try line by bulldozing his way through the defence, was sin-binned for over-vigorous play.

In his last game before returning to Aotearoa, Jason unfortunately pulled a calf muscle after a runaway try.

In the battle for forward dominance, the front rows of Skews, Taiki and Tupa went head to head with Ioane, Moe and Puna, with Moe earning ‘Player of the Day’ for his solid performance.

At the Rose Garden, president Tok, on behalf of the players, wished Olympic Games Chef de Mission General George and his team all the best in their quest for gold in London.