DETERMINED TEAM

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 11, Issue 58, 25 July 1947, Page 7

DETERMINED TEAM

TANEATUA RUGBY CLUB TRIP TO GISBORNE Although a wet journey was expected by the 23 players and supporters of the Taneatua Rugby Football Club when they set out in heavy rain from their home • town at 4.30 a.m. on a recent Friday for Gisborne they little knew of the many hazards Nature was to place in their way to delay their arrival at their destination. The trip south took 14 hours and it was a battle against flooawaters and slips. They were visiting Gisborne to play a friendly Rugby match with the Kiwi club team.

On the Taneatua-Opotiki section of the journey they encountered their first obstacle. At Nukuhou the surface of the road was covered by water to a depth of 3ft. and the party removed their nether garments and filed out of the 31-pas-senger bus to guide the driver and push the vehicle. A further hour and a-half was spent in that locality while the distributor was dried out and other adjustments made. Players found it necessary also to lend their aid on the flood-covered highway at Kutarere and Waiotahi. The bus arrived at Opotlki at 8.15 p.m., having taken nearly four hours for the comparatively short distance.

After having overcome these early difficulties, the Taneatua men were not dismayed when advised not to undertake the trip through the Waioeka Gorge.

The party rested for an hour in Opotiki before resuming their journey. When they encountered a slip on the Opotiki end of the Waioeka Gorge the party de-bussed once more and dug their way through the toe of the debris littering the road. Those efforts took them from 9 p.m. to 12.15 a.m. At the 15-mile peg their progres was again blocked, but timely aid was forthcoming from employees of the Works Department.

The next incident occurred when the lights of the bus showed up a wild pig on the road. Members of the team gave chase and recorded a kill by using a tyre lever and a penknife. They brought the carcase of the pig to Gisborne to support their story.. The bus passed through Matawai at 4.30 a.m. and arrived at Gisborne at 6.15 a.m. on Saturday.