Saturday 27 July 2002 at Les George Oval the Pirates Old Boys Division 2 team won the Southland wide final against Waiau Star 17 - 12 which was the first senior title won under the Pirates Old Boys colours. This weekend the team are having a renuinion to mark the 10 year anniversary since the win.
Under the coaching of Shayne Harvey and the management of Chuck McAulay & Brydone Hughes the team posted a pretty respectable record over the season.
Memorable games were:
The 11 all draw against Waiau Star out at Tuatapere. The weather was all extremes that day with the bus getting buffeted by strong winds on the way out, the sight of a caravan blown to bits on the side of the road at Orepuki was an indication that it was going to be a tough day at the office. The ground at Tui was basically a swamp with wind/rain/hail and the odd bit of sun appearing during the game. Lingus went off hypothermia due to a lack of meat on his body and Rooster had to be pulled out of a big puddle of mud that was threatening to swallow him up. Kicks at goal were difficult with the kickers hardly able to get the ball off the ground. At the end of the day rugby was the winner and an enjoyable night was had at the Waiau Star clubrooms. Due to the amount of mud we bought back from Tui the team jersey bag required a two man lift to get it on the back of chuckys ute.
Another game of note was a big win against Balfour - Lusmden at Centrepoint #4. At one stage 5 Balfour - Lumsden kickoffs resulted in 5 tries to Grant Stewart. Each time Balfour - Lumsden kidked off the forwards caught it, fed the backs and Grant was left with the task of running in 5 tries one after the other from within his own 22 which saw him run out of puff pretty quickly - to much weight work not enough speed work as Jake the muss would say.
A bus trip out to play Edendale saw Rodney Hogg came up with the great idea of providing some "adult"reading material to psych the team up as Edendale were one of the better teams in the competition. Unfortunately this only resulted in the bus arriving at the ground all steamed up and the boys suffering a loss to the magpies.
The team was notable for the number of players that had played alot of senior (premier) level rugby. Another advantage the team enjoyed was the fear factor the Butler Brothers bought with them. Unfortunately it turned out most of the fear was from their own team mates in the showers and changing rooms after the game.
The end of year year trip was a bus trip to Dunedin for an NPC game. Some animalistic behaviour at the Dragon Cafe after the food was slow to arrive at the table saw high chairs and food going every where which resulted in the Chinese chef coming out from the kitchen with his meat cleaver. Some fast talking by Paul Gray with the Chinese management saw buttered bread and food come out in respectable quantities and everybody was happy. The bill was paid and on the way out PG told them we the Southern Rugby club Senior B team.
At this stage about 20+ from the 2002 team will be at the club at various stages of the weekend as most of them have been to lazy to move away from Southland. A quick head count shows that 8 of the team are still actively involved in the club helping out with coaching/management/committee. The breeding program instituted by the super coach has seen at lest 26 kids produced with about a dozen coming thru the junior grades at the moment.
Program for the reunion is a meet and greet on Friday evening at the club, watch the under 18, Div2 and premier games on Sat then have a night at the club. Any activities on Sunday will depend on the weather and how healthy everybody is feeling.
Under the coaching of Shayne Harvey and the management of Chuck McAulay & Brydone Hughes the team posted a pretty respectable record over the season.
Memorable games were:
The 11 all draw against Waiau Star out at Tuatapere. The weather was all extremes that day with the bus getting buffeted by strong winds on the way out, the sight of a caravan blown to bits on the side of the road at Orepuki was an indication that it was going to be a tough day at the office. The ground at Tui was basically a swamp with wind/rain/hail and the odd bit of sun appearing during the game. Lingus went off hypothermia due to a lack of meat on his body and Rooster had to be pulled out of a big puddle of mud that was threatening to swallow him up. Kicks at goal were difficult with the kickers hardly able to get the ball off the ground. At the end of the day rugby was the winner and an enjoyable night was had at the Waiau Star clubrooms. Due to the amount of mud we bought back from Tui the team jersey bag required a two man lift to get it on the back of chuckys ute.
Another game of note was a big win against Balfour - Lusmden at Centrepoint #4. At one stage 5 Balfour - Lumsden kickoffs resulted in 5 tries to Grant Stewart. Each time Balfour - Lumsden kidked off the forwards caught it, fed the backs and Grant was left with the task of running in 5 tries one after the other from within his own 22 which saw him run out of puff pretty quickly - to much weight work not enough speed work as Jake the muss would say.
A bus trip out to play Edendale saw Rodney Hogg came up with the great idea of providing some "adult"reading material to psych the team up as Edendale were one of the better teams in the competition. Unfortunately this only resulted in the bus arriving at the ground all steamed up and the boys suffering a loss to the magpies.
The team was notable for the number of players that had played alot of senior (premier) level rugby. Another advantage the team enjoyed was the fear factor the Butler Brothers bought with them. Unfortunately it turned out most of the fear was from their own team mates in the showers and changing rooms after the game.
The end of year year trip was a bus trip to Dunedin for an NPC game. Some animalistic behaviour at the Dragon Cafe after the food was slow to arrive at the table saw high chairs and food going every where which resulted in the Chinese chef coming out from the kitchen with his meat cleaver. Some fast talking by Paul Gray with the Chinese management saw buttered bread and food come out in respectable quantities and everybody was happy. The bill was paid and on the way out PG told them we the Southern Rugby club Senior B team.
At this stage about 20+ from the 2002 team will be at the club at various stages of the weekend as most of them have been to lazy to move away from Southland. A quick head count shows that 8 of the team are still actively involved in the club helping out with coaching/management/committee. The breeding program instituted by the super coach has seen at lest 26 kids produced with about a dozen coming thru the junior grades at the moment.
Program for the reunion is a meet and greet on Friday evening at the club, watch the under 18, Div2 and premier games on Sat then have a night at the club. Any activities on Sunday will depend on the weather and how healthy everybody is feeling.
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