Action packed day of touch just before the rain came in!

We took three Greymouth HS Senior touch teams to Hari Hari on Tuesday to compete in the hotly contested WCSS Senior Touch Tournament. Unfortunately due to Alert Level 2 restrictions a couple of schools could not attend and we were limited on the amount of teams we could bring, plus no spectators to cheer on those playing.

Thank you to Paddy Byrne for assisting taking the teams away, we are very lucky to have this support from our community! Also thank you to Deb and Rob at South Westland Area School for putting on a fantastic event for our students, it was thoroughly enjoy!

In the boys competition we had two teams GHS A (navy) and GHS B (light blue), Westland HS and South Westland AS. The GHS A team consisted of more of our senior boys: Theo Barnett, Niko Barnett, Reuben Taylor, Jak Partridge, Marty Rochford, Josh Cooper and Joel McKay. These boys had some tight games first up against SWAS with a 3-2 win, same score against WHS then a draw against the GHS B team.

The GHS B team was mostly made up of the exciting Y11 boys of: Liam Gurden, Wil van der Geest, Griffin Thomas, Noah Goodwin-Lister, Sam Shaw and Y12 James Crooks. This team had a try fest against SWAS winning 5-2, then two draws 1-1 against WHS, then 3-3 against GHS A.

For both the boys teams there was some great talent on show as many have been playing touch in the local competition. The referees made comment is was tough keeping up with the speed the boys were playing at which made for some entertaining viewing. Well done on your performances boys!

Final Placing: 1st GHS A, 2nd GHS B, 3rd WHS, 4th SWAS

The girls competition saw some very tight games between GHS, Westland HS, South Westland AS A and South Westland AS B. Our team had a mix of girls with some who hadn't played tough since primary school but they found their feet quickly. Team: Alyssa Blacktopp, Haylee Mackinnon, Yana Latta, Sophia Keown, Aleece Harris, Allie Vaughan, Madison Rihari and Emma Boddy.

All teams took their time to get into the matches while dealing with slipping and sliding around a greasy field but once they found their feet the games opened up! In the first game the girls stormed home with a 5-1 win over SWAS B, then a tighter 2-0 win against WHS and in the final game it finished as a draw 1-1 with SWAS A. With this draw both teams had the same amount of points on count back for and against so the decision was made to have a golden point final! 3 minutes of extra time was played - no points scored, player drop offs begin every minute. 5v5 no points scored, 4v4 no points scored, finally at 3v3 GHS made the most of the extra room on the field and Haylee Mackinnon got in for the win! Thrilling way to finish girls!

Final Placings: 1st GHS, 2nd SWAS A, 3rd WHS, 4th SWAS B

Awesome day of touch, and all players represented GHS with pride - well done teams!