Whakatane Third In Primary Schools’ Rugby Tournament

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 14, Issue 30, 26 August 1949, Page 5

Whakatane Third In Primary Schools’ Rugby Tournament

Although making a desperate rally in the remaining few minutes and appearing at times as if they would be succesful Whakatane were unable to head Rotorua and lost by 8 points to 5 in the final match of the Bay of Plenty Primary Schools’ rugby tournament held at Whakatane this week and which concluded yesterday. This final win for Rotorua gave them the Tai Mitchell Shield for the third year in succession and the Laurence Boynton Shield to Rangitaiki, the runner-up. Whakatane were third in the tournament.

The championship was attended by 108 boys from Rotorua, Opotiki, Tauranga, Te Puke, Rangitaiki and Whakatane and lasted three days. The visiting ’ teams returned home this morning. Throughout the tournament the standard of football was very high and the teams very even. Although they did not win a match Te Puke were probably the most improved team and with every game gave a better performance. Rotorua and Rangitaiki proved their superiority but in the last game between Rotorua and Whakatane the latter had the chance of being runner-up if they forced a draw but were unsuccessful in a last determined attempt. Whakatane and Opotiki proved to be strong opposition while Tauranga was a little unlucky in a few of their games. The following is a table of championship details:—

Full results of games played:— Whakatane 6 Rangitaikt 0, Opotiki 6 Tauranga 6, Rotorua 33, Te Puke 0, Rotorua 3 Rangitaiki 3, Opotiki 3 Whakatane 0, Tauranga 12 Te Puke 3, Rotorua 11 Tauranga 0, Rangitaiki 3 Opotiki 0, Whakatane 9 Te Puke 0, Rotorua 16 Opotiki 0, Whakatane 8 Tauranga 3, Rangitaiki 9 Te Puke 6, Opotiki 6 Te Puke 0, Rangitaiki 11 Tauranga 6, Rotorua 8 Whakatane 5.

Team won drawn lost Champ points Rotorua 4 1 0 9 Rangitaiki 3 1 1 7 Whakatane 3 0 2 6 Opotiki 2 1 2 5 Tauranga 1 1 3 3 Te Puke 0 0 5 0