Kia Ora Fellow Bookworms –
Today in this writing i will be talking about how my experience at the touch tournament went, where it happened and who won overall in this tournament stay tuned for an exciting announcement!
Firstly, the main touch people had to activate towards the car gates to discuss some important news, and we also got handed some awesome designed uniforms for the touch tournament which i found very generous ( Used previously in sports camp ), but then after that we wore it and put on our boots to have some fine grip. When we were finished discussing, we headed straight to the van and we had no problems after that.
Our destination we headed for was Bruce Pulmans Park, which i thought was the most perfect spot to play some fun tournaments at. When we first arrived the boys team admired the big field and the other teams we were competing against. Then afterwards the full club arranged together and was told some inspiring words by Whaea Lorraine mostly leaning onto the sportsmanship and listening to the referee side. But straight after that, we did some warm ups to fuel up our body to get ready for the upcoming games we were going to play against. We weren’t very active during the warm ups but i didn’t mind since some of us were actually listening to the commanded moves.
Then when the games were starting, our first opponents were Hingaia Peninsula, and our team didn’t find very challenging as some of them were very small, but very swift and fast, but we also had some good defenders and swift players aswell. In the first 5 minutes of the game we were leading heavily by 4/5 points then as soon as the game finished we ended off with one more try leading us with 6-1. After our first victory we became more confident of our play, but we kept getting told off to keep moving forward, and honestly, i couldn’t blame them as some of the players were moving side way ( including me ) which leaded to not making much meters. But other then that, we were praised by scoring 6 tries in our first round.
In our second round, we had a big opponent, Opaheke School, this school felt more Eery in prescence as they had tall and other swift looking players, but we didn’t feel very much threatened as we played, but in the first half they started gaining scores on us which made some of us very pressured, but during the game we were able to score some authentic tries which caught some of the players off-guard and found out swiftness players this round very helpful since they were doing most of the work in draining the other teams energy. But overall, the scores were 4-4, our whole team thought we won that round since we scored the first try, but it wasn’t decided yet. We were very exhausted and many of us didn’t keep moving forward, ruining our plan.
In our third round, we had another opponent, Papakura normal school. Now our school felt very anxious this round, since Papakura normal school was very good and athletic at sports camp last-year which some of us remembered and don’t remember winning a single a form of rugby game against them, but our team weren’t much cocky and stayed humble and communicated which help us get some tries. In the mid 6 minutes of our game it was 2-1 ( we were leading ) and then all of a sudden they scored one more try before the timer ended which ended up being a draw again 2-2, which we got the same result against Opaheke school but we got the first try again which made us think we won again, but it wasn’t decided. After that game, some of us needed to hydrate and have some kai before we had our fourth game and some of us looked like we really needed some food due to the fact some of us didn’t have breakfast ( Including me, due to a rush ) but we all looked like we had enough more fuel to charge for the next game.
In our fourth round, we were up against Kauri flats, the athletic team, but all the good players were separated into different tournaments. The players looked very Intimidating, but we didn’t let that overcome us, as the round started we went with full brute force and managed to get some swift players in kauri flats out to some near-tries, then when the ball was officially ours to play, we went with pride and precision, with smiles on every face not giving a single care if we made the slightest mistake. But our teamwork and communication made us lead and we wanted to keep it that way so between the 7-minute mark we did everything to defend the attackers from Kauri flats, and it went successfully well. We did end up winning by 2-1, and we were cheering loudly since we were 2 games away from the finals and had mde it to the semi-finals. Now we started to hydrate more and gain more strategies on what type of methods we could use to out-match our next opponent. But overall this round was all about precision and communication alongside sportsmanship.
In our fifth round, we had to go up against the first team we went up against the first round, Hingaia Peninsula, we weren’t very intimidated as some of us already calculated some of their signature moves last round we played. Then when the whistle blew, we ran with the wind and pushed the team back with brute force and kept going until the ball was ours, as it came to the final touch the team was outmatched and the ball was ours. Since the ball was ours, we spread out and started communicating by whispering so that the other team didn’t hear us well and won’t know our next move. Swift player for example Demitrius, Toutai ( me ), pita including all of the other players were able to outrun many players in the other team and led by 2-0 by the third mark. When it came to the 8-minute mark, our team was devastatingly leading by 4-0 ( or 1 ) and after the game was finished, we were very happy and joyful that we beat them the second time and was able to move onto the next round where we and the other team was going to play for the first and second place.
And in our last and final sixth round, we went up against Papakura normal school again, since they won most of their games, since we knew what corner they mostly are fond of with one side and some of us went towards that side, but some of us went to the other side just in-case. When the whistle blew, we went with some of us forming an angle and made the other players know where to pass and when not to pass. Then after that it was our turn to play the ball, and we went with brute force, and didn’t focus on how fast they were but focusing and calculating on their signature moves so we can instantly avoid them. We scored a try at the 6-minute mark which made us very happy, while Papakura normal school had none, but as soon the Papakura normal school got a score, our amazing defenders were able to push them back and then eventually touched them till the 6th touch. Then when we had the ball, we went straight forward, some of us went to the side but we didn’t mind, then as the timer just ended we got another try. And then, we finally realised we just came first place in this whole tournament. The boys were cheering loudly and then started to handshake the other team and show appreciation of how they were a great opponent. Then we were notified, that since we were the first place winners, we were able to go to manukau counties, and we all started talking to each-other excitedly, to this moment now i still couldn’t stop thinking about how we won that amazing tournament.
In conclusion, i have summarized what we did in our overall experience at the touch tournament and what we did and who we went up against, our team were very supporting and knew how to ocmmunicate as a side note and we didn’t have any negative notes to any other teams because we knew that if we violated one of the rules we could get kicked out from the tournament. But in the end, our practices at school were all worth it and 2 weeks ahead of us, to manukau counties.
Thank you for reading my topic on what i and the others did the the touch tournament today, have a great and sunny day!











