Nayland rolled out a mixed touch team on Sunday 17th February for the Tasman Secondary Schools qualifying tournament, held at Tahuna playing fields.

The scorching hot Nelson day was a chance for both experienced and new players to develop their skills and grow as a team. However, the first three games proved to be too much of a challenge, as the team lost to stronger and more experienced ones from the Nelson/Marlborough region.

The last game of the day against Golden Bay, however, was a different story.  It was a real thriller and showed how much the team had developed as a unit, right from when they scored the first points of the game.  

This was followed by 'tit for tat' tries until the last five minutes of when Nayland edged ahead. The final score backed this up with the team winning  by two points and scoring seven tries to their opponents' five. 

Stand-out player of the game was Hayden Burns who scored many of the team's tries after well-executed settles up the field.

A big "thank you" to goes to Katelyn Gardiner, Becky Newcombe and Cheyenne Wirihana for helping to organise and lead the team on the day.