The U15 side after having a challenging year in the local competition were determined to have success at the tournament held in Blenheim this year. A year of many first in its 33-year history; first time held all in one city; first time with more than 8 teams; first time the pools had changed; first time with a double-game day. This got the boys very excited for what was ahead.

The tournament itself was better than any we could imagine. An immaculate 3 days in Blenheim all reaching 15+ degrees. After a very well done mihi whakatau in the morning , the boys were set to face their double-header; Waitaki in the morning, and Southland in the arvo.

We started strong against Waitaki scoring two tries after 10 minutes, both to co-captain Tautava. From there the game tussled back and forth with Waitaki taking the lead with 10 minutes to go from a 40m penalty. Shirley struck back with 2 tries before throwing an intercept to Waitaki which ended the game. Shirley 22 Waitaki 18. The second game was the brutal one. The boys clearly worn from the game with only an hour in between. Southland started strong, pushing out to a 19-0 lead at halftime. The boys came out firing in the second winning it 5-0 with a fantastic display of defence. Shirley 5 Southland 19.

Following the 1st day, we were seeded in the middle pool, playing of from 4th-6th. Our traditional foes Kings were up first. Hot off an 80-0 victory against Nelson, Kings came out strong despite us having an early 3-0 lead; scoring 3 tries to make it 19-3. We bounced back late to make it 19-10 but it was too little too late. Wednesday brought our fourth and final day of play matching up with Christ's who beat us 26-5 in the local competition. The boy’s confidence was extremely high, coming up hot to lead 14-0 after 6 minutes off 2 brilliant tries to our midfielders Alani and Bernard. From there, teams traded tries, but Shirley were clearly dominant in the game. Individual brilliance from lock Awa took Shirley to a 26-14 lead with 8 to go. With time ticking for Christ's, they managed to score 1 try, but the Shirley defence held firm, inflicting errors across the board; eventually ending the game in our favour; Shirley 26 Christ's 19.

Overall, a very successful tournament, to finish 5th after getting 6th in the local competition is awesome and myself and the coaches are incredibly proud of the boy’s resilience. The team dinner on the Tuesday night was great with both Va and Ben speaking on behalf of the school. Shoutout to MBC who have set a bar for this tournament as hosts; one in which we look to continue as hosts for the 2024 tournament. So, for all those U14s who will be playing in this next year, we have big shoes to fill.

~ Mr. Chalklen (U15A Head Coach)