Rugby: Stratford-Eltham go back-to-back

It is a case of one and done for Stratford-Eltham rugby head coach Rawiri Mako.

After securing back-to-back Taranaki premier club rugby titles at Stadium Taranaki on Saturday, the head coach has decided to pass the reins onto someone else.

“Definitely that’s it for me,” he said after his team’s 31-22 win against Coastal in the final.

“I’ve been at it for a long time, time to give it to someone else.”

Mako, who last coached Stratford-Eltham in 2019, returned to the role after the departure of Ross Williams at the end of last year to continue 30 years of coaching and led the team to his first title for the combined club.

He said the win was huge for the community and the club, which had made it through to three consecutive finals.

“You tend to attract better personnel. If they’re coming to the province, they’ll look at us straight away.”

While the championship was still sinking in for the experienced coach, Coastal’s struggles in premier finals continued, as they have been runners-up six times since their last title in 2012.

During the match, both teams were guilty of mistakes in an error-ridden first half, with plenty of dropped ball and missed tackles.

Mako said the scrappy start was due to the intensity of the match which forced teams to lose their way.

“There wasn’t too much structure about it, but that’s club rugby, you only get a little but of time with them each week, so you think that you’ve got it worked out but in the end it’s up to the players. I’m still pretty thrilled with it.”

It was the players who missed out on Neil Barnes’ recently named Taranaki squad who stood out.

Stratford-Eltham loose forward and captain Scott Jury and prop Marika Parker were excellent around the field, so was Coastal midfielder Ben Dufficy and loose forward Olly Lawson.

Dufficy made plenty of line breaks and set up the first try, while he scored one himself in the first half.

Jury, who was a dominate figure during lineouts, said Stratford-Eltham’s set piece and speed were keys in the match.

“I just tried to lead by example and keep the boys working right through to the last minute,” he said.

Conversely, Taranaki’s representative players did not fire.

Stratford-Eltham wing Vereniki Tikoisolomone missed several tackles and Coastal halfback Logan Crowley was not able to continue his form from last week’s semifinal.

Despite the mistakes, were several lead changes as Stratford-Eltham eventually scored five tries to two.

The defending champions took control just after halftime when they stretched their 17-14 lead out to 24-14 in the second spell.

Coastal came back to narrow the margin to 24-22, until a late onslaught from Stratford-Eltham saw Hemopo Cunningham score right on fulltime.

At a glance:

Stratford-Eltham 31 (C. Bailey, V. Tikoisolomone, M. Parker, S. Balenaisia, H. Cunningham tries; B. Christie 2 con, H. Fevre con) Coastal 22 (L. Crowley, B. Dufficy, K. Drauna tries; J. Sinclair 2 con, pen). HT 17-14.

Other finals results:

Women’s: Inglewood 46 v Tukapa 24
Division 1: New Plymouth Old Boys 24 v Southern 23
Division 2: Bell Block 15 v Patea 8
Colts: Tukapa 32 v Coastal 22
Division 3: Toko 21 v Kaponga 12.