Victorious Vets!
2014 has been an outstanding season for the Vs with a 12 wins and 4 losses this season. It was first year in a long time that we managed to make it to the final, finishing up second in the Manawatu Rugby Union senior reserve grade. Highlights include playing off against College Old Boys for the challenge cup and coming out on top with a 15-8 win, we now hold the challenge cup until next season.
The following weekend was the grand final against Old Boys Marist played at FMG stadium. This caused a lot of excitement as it was the first time the Vets have made a final since anyone can remember. The final was a tough game against a good team and our errors proved costly, in the end we lost 23-7. A chance to make history and add to our trophy cabinet was missed, but we will come back next year fighting.
The Massey Tri-nations tournament was played recently between the Vets, Ag colts and Blokes teams. All games were played on the same day, which was tough, especially when we had two games in a row with a 10 minute rest between. In both games we had big wins to retain our Tri-nations trophy, beating the Ag colts 41-24 the the blokes 36-10. Another cup for the Cabinet!
The Vs played their last game of the year last week, which was arguably the most important game of the season, the annual Ag vs Vets match. The Vs managed to accomplish something, that hasn’t happened in over 10 years, win against the Ags!. It was a close match with the Ags scoring early on in the first half. We were not concerned and remained cool, calm and collected. Jarrod Davey continued to spin glorious passes and Angus Gibb and Michael Catley maintained their consistent great play. Jordan Stayt came to the rescue with a brilliant try. The referee awarded a penalty against us, bringing the score to 10-5 to the Ags. We needed a miracle to happen. This miracle came in the form of Mark Wallace, he managed to have a brilliant run and get across the line bringing our score at half time to 12-10 (vets). The lads looked shattered at half time with many bleeding, especially Kevin Frame. But we carried on knowing that the job was not yet done. We knew the 2 point margin was not enough and Wallace came to the rescue again, scoring a marvellous try. This made the score 19-10 early into the second half. Victory was close and the cameo of our very own Alex Meban, back from a broken an
gle earlier this year, sent shock waves through the crowd. Once that final whistle blew we knew we had done our job, every single one of us. We were so bloody ecstatic. Well-earned celebrations continued deep into the night. It was a proud and great way to cap off an already brilliant season for our Startect Vet XV.
Written by Angus Gibb and Ryan Philips.
