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A squad comprised heavily of Aoraki players has shone at a recent New Zealand Rugby League under-16 national tournament.
The South Island Scorpions, a squad made up of players from Nelson, West Coast, Aoraki, Otago and Southland, finished runners-up out of 16 teams at the tournament held in Auckland late last month.
The side, coached by Aoraki rugby league stalwart Nathan Robinson, went two for two in their grading matches, picking up a 10-8 win over Canterbury and a 32-6 win over Coastline.
The Scorpions then came up against Hawkes Bay in the quarterfinal — narrowly winning the encounter 22-20 to set up a semifinal match with Taranaki, which they comfortably went on to win 34-6.
A strong Counties Manukau side was waiting for them in the final and despite a valiant effort the Scorpions were defeated 34-18.
Robinson said his side punched well above its weight.
“I’m extremely proud of the boys. We spoke prior to kickoff for the final and I said to them that as long as we come off the field knowing we did our best and emptied the tank that’s all we could ask for.
“We were one of the smallest teams there and we just built the team on self-belief and toughness, through defence, not necessarily attack and it paid dividends in the end.”
The side also had individual success in the tournament with Aoraki player Jackson Robinson being named as the tournament MVP.
Fellow Aoraki players Lian Knoetze, and Boston Davis were also named in the team of the tournament along with Jackson.
The trio, who all attend Timaru Boys’ High School, were then selected as part of an 18-man New Zealand Residents under-16 squad which will take on a under-16 Aotearoa New Zealand Māori Rugby League side at Bruce Pulman Park in Auckland on Monday.
Robinson said it was great to see the the success Aoraki tournament teams and players were having this year.
“Just recently the Aoraki boys came away winners at the South Island under-14 tournament. We also won the 16s and came runners-up in the 18s.
“We’ve also had a couple Aoraki girls [Ana Latu and Maisie McKerchar] named in the girls U14 Scorpions tournament team.
“We’re definitely getting mentioned up and down the island and even a couple of league scouts have mentioned a couple of the younger boys’ names. We’re just going to keep building.”