Touch teams on the ball

A potent combination of Marlborough’s youthful touch talent took part in the prestigious Kaiawa Invitational Club Touch Championships at Ngā Puna Wai in Christchurch on January 23-24.

Playing in the highly-competitive Open Mixed grade they won two from their three pool games, prevailed in their semifinal then lost by a single point to the host Kaiawa side in the grade decider.

Illegal Jam were: Axell Allen, Ben Blackmore, Thomas Blackmore, Jack Burdon, Bree Flynn, Will Flynn, Ajay Gane, Jake Gane, Leo Marfell, Luca McMillan, Sophia Nicholas, Paige O’Brien, Hugh Robinson, Louis Thomas, Jordan Samson and Tilly Tupouto’a.

Also playing in the tournament were Todd Nicholas and Josh Harrison, who represented the Canterbury Baabaas, plus Katie Bradley who played for the mixed Kaiawa B grade side.

Todd said the standard of play overall was very high, with teams coming from all over New Zealand and several of the country’s elite players in action.

College nationals

Teams from both Marlborough Boys’ College and Marlborough Girls’ College both put in strong showings at the secondary school nationals in Rotorua during December.

The MGC side finished up seventh overall, the MBC crew winding up ranked 16th in the country.

The girls finished second in their pool, won their round of 16 match to reach the top eight, but went down in their quarterfinal before recovering to win the seventh/eighth play-off against Trident. Bree Flynn and Leia Shaw were standout players.

MBC impressed in their pool with wins against Liston, Rangitoto College, St John’s Hamilton, plus two narrow defeats to Westlake and Christchurch BHS. Those results landed MBC in the top half of the draw where they were drawn against eventual tournament winners Hamilton Boys for a place in the quarter finals, going down 10-5. Thomas Blackmore, Louis Thomas, Rico Nicklin, Jake Gane and Charlie Lyford all had strong tournaments.

The MGC side: Bree Flynn, Leia Shaw, Sophia Nicholas, Olivia Brown, Jordan Sampson, Tilly Tupouto’a, Luca McMillan, Greer Sampson, Pippa Minhinnick, Jaye Wiapo, Alice Watene, Natalie Nicholas, Bella Bromwich, Chloe Cook, Izzy Taetuli and Alyssa Haronga.

The MBC side: Kyan Marcroft, Charlie Lyford, Manaia Jones, Rico Nicklin, Liam Cohen, Jake Gane, Louis Thomas, Sinclair Hill, Jake Clark, Thomas Blackmore, Dylan Gifford, Jade Joseph, Ajay Gane, Kale McMillian, Cyrus Prestage, and Zephur Dollimore

Junior nationals

This coming weekend three Marlborough rep teams will head south to Christchurch to take part in the Junior Nationals.

Marlborough will be represented by Under-16 boys’ and girls’ sides and an under-18 mixed combination.