WRC

The annual Wheelchair Rugby Championship was completed in July with the final round being completed in Palmeston North. The last round included the last round of pool play and semi’s and finals. Both the Invacare Auckland teams were 1 and 2 in the standings after pool play and had 2 tough semifinals to play to make the final.

Invacare Auckland Blue faced Canterbury Red and battled point for point for 3 quarters until Auckland pulled away. Steve Smith played well in this game, using his functional superiority to good effect getting several good turn-overs. His combination with Curtis Palmer on inbounds was impressive, Steve plucking the ball out of the air many times. Auckland eventually won comfortably 40-29.

In the other semi, Invacare Auckland Blue faced off against Manawatu. This game was similar to the other semi, close for 3 quarters, but Invacare Auckland pulled away in the last quarter. The hosts put up a good fight, Sholto Taylor proved a hand full, but new players Clayton Utia, and Wayne South proved their potential and seen Auckland through, winning 37-33.

WRC Final

Invacare Auckland White vs Invacare Auckland Blue

The first 2 quarters were 1 point contests. Turn-overs were effected on both teams. Blues man on man defense vs white’s double-single-single defense proving a good match. Injury to one of the Blue teams starting line-up forced them to go to the bench effectively handing White the win.  Dan Buckingham stood out for White and Marty Payne was a constant thorn for the Blue team on defense.

White wins the 2008 WRC 31 – 23.

Nationals

The New Zealand Nationals were held in Christchurch this year and after the strength and domination shown by Auckland during the WRC it was decided that Auckland would enter 2 teams in the Nationals.

Blue                                       White

Dan Buckingham    3.0            Steve Smith       3.0

Wayne South         2.5            Curtis Palmer     2.5

Tim Johnson          2.0             Jai Waite           1.0      

Clayton Utia          2.0             Adam Wakeford  1.0      

Grant Sharman      1.0            Gary McMurrary   2.0                  

Marty Payne         0.5            Steve Nimmo         0.5

Jason Andrews    0.5

The nationals were held over three days with a complete round robin to be played with top 4 going through to semis. Both Auckland teams started with a win a piece in closely fought games. The crunch match during the round robin was paning out to be the clash between the 2 Auckland teams for the top spot. The last time these 2 teams met in a pool game Auckland White inflicted a couple of crippling hits on Blue’s equipment, effectively ending the game early. This day was a point for point game with 2 referee calls going the way of the White team during the last quarter to swing the game in favour of the White team. Both teams played out their remaining games with victories to end the round robin 1 and 2 in the standings.

Auckland White played Canterbury in the 1 vs 4 semi and got off to an easy start getting a couple of goals up. Their defensive effort in the first quarter layed the platform for the lead and allowed White to rest their big guns for the final as they cruised to victory. At the same time Auckland Blue was battling out a tough semi against Waikato in seasaw match not helped by a medical substitution to Curtis Palmer in the second half as Blue then watch a 10 goal lead dwindle down to 2 points. Auckland eventually on by 1 but could have been more comfortable.

Nationals final

Yet another Auckland vs Auckland final, but this one certainly had a lot more feeling than the last final. A couple of cheep shots that went un-punished by the referees pushed the game towards a physical and intense encounter. There were plenty of people hitting the turf with some monstorous hits going in and some dirty ones, with a few punches thrown to boot. Blue lead the first quarter but White claimed the lead in the second. The game took a fimilar tune in the 3^rd quarter again thanks to the referees, but Blue fought back valiantly closing the game to a 1 point affair with a minute to go. However White held onto the ball to close out the game and claim the title.

Auckland also claimed several individual awards as well;

• Best 0.5 Marty Payne
• Best 1.0 Jai Waite
• Best 2.5 Curtis Palmer
• Best 3.0 Dan Buckingham
• Most Improved Clayton Utia

Season Wrap-up

Auckland completed the triple crown this year the first time since 1999, by winning the Low Pointers, WRC, and Nationals.

2009 Season

Auckland Wheelchair Rugby is looking forward to another successful year next year trying to defend all three NZ trophy’s we currently hold. The NZ Low Point Championship is being held in Hamilton at the end of Feburary, and the WRC will be held at 3 venues through the central north island.

The NZ Nationals is being hosted by Auckland next year at the North Shore Events Center. We look forward to working with you to host a demonstration table to show off your equipment.