Army camp link extends to rugby

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 15, Issue 689, 3 June 1997, Page 12

Army camp link extends to rugby

While on their way to Mission Bay near Taupo for a school camp, Year 5-8 pupils from Linton Camp School stopped off at Waiouru Primary School Mondaylastweektoplay rugby and 10-a-side 'newimage' rugby. Links between the-two schools extend to family ties and good-natured inter-unit rivalry. Waiouru teacher, Rachel Couchman, is the daughter-in-law of Chris Couchman of Linton Camp School. The competitiveness was also shown by the number of parents, especially fathers, who supported their team.

With trials for team selection held close to the date, neither team had much opportunity to practise before the inter-school games. However, the players made an excellent effort with both the Waiouru teams coming out top in points. The girls' "new image" rugby team was coached by teacher Angelique Bidois, and had their shirts supplied by Queen Alexandra' s Mounted Rifles (QAMR). This team's warm-up routine broke with tradition as they favoured the line-dance approach to preparing themselves for the competition. This training method could be considered by other teams as they were successful against the Linton team in their Army red shirts! The Waiouru XV team played barefoot rugby and their team included two girls in an otherwise all boys team. Aroha Hollis and Kate MacDonnell were selected from the trial games and acquitted themselves well on the field. Linton School had similarly held trials for their team but had had to contend with factors relating to the smaller school size as well as limiting the team to those on the school camp. They played a good game and never gave up the attack. The first half was very even with the score being tied 7-7 at half time. The Waiouru XV had some problems settling down in the second half but soon got their act together and scored a further five tries, one of which was converted. Loyal Waiouru fans were quick to point out that all the point-scorers came from Waiouru, including Tamati Noble of the Linton XV as he had only moved from Waiouru to Linton at the end of last year. Nathan Taikato, David Kidd, Quinn Robertson, Zac Lawrence and Hori Tuhoro were the official point scorers for the Waiouru XV. "The final score did not reflect the evenness of the teams," commented assistant coach Rciger Kidd. "It was a good game" for both Linton and Waiouru. The children' s enjoyment of inter-school games was readily apparent and teacher/coach Marty Hantz indicated that they would be looking into the possibility of a return match between the two schools, with netball and soccer perhaps being the nominated sports next time. With 42 children en-route to camp, Linton Camp School teachers Chris Couchman and Hamish Ruawai said they appreciated the chance to break their trip in such a fun way. They also acknowledged the support of the Army who had provided a bus.