Battered Maroon make the finals

Alison King | 8th July 2010

They are "battered and bruised" but Wayne Fell believes his Tai Mitchell team can hold their heads high after this year's tournament.

Rotorua Maroon take the field today at Murupara's Rangitahi College to defend their Bill Murray Trophy against Whakatane on the final day of the Tai Mitchell Primary Schools Tournament.

The team made the final after defeating Rangitaiki 22-12.

"We've some battered and bruised boys but that's rugby," coach Fell said after yesterday's win. "We were pretty scrappy and down at halftime but we came home really well. We scored three tries in the last 20 minutes but there was quite a breeze and we were against it in the first half. This was our worst performance. "

He said captain Jayden Savage - who is nephew of Tai Mitchell graduate and former All Black Craig Newby - missed the first half and some of the second and his influence was clearly missed. "It all worked out, though. Whakatane is going to be a hard game. They were pretty comprehensive and impressive in giving Opotiki a hiding. "

Maroon's match starts at 9.30am and is the first in a series of finals. Rotorua Gold take on Apanui at the same time to determine which team goes home with the metaphorical wooden spoon.

Battling it out for Tai Mitchell Trophy honours are defending champions Tauranga West hoping to hold off Tauranga East.

West are undefeated in this year's competition but East lost in the second round to Te Puke. They faced them again in yesterday's semifinals and and scored 19 unanswered points.

Semifinals: Whakatane 39 Opotiki 27, Tauranga East 19 Te Puke 0, Rotorua Maroon 22 Rangitaiki 12, Tauranga West 17 Galatea 8.

Finals: Bill Murray Trophy: Rotorua Maroon v Whakatane 9.30am; 9th v 10th: Rotorua Gold v Apanui 9.30am; Gavin Parkinson Trophy: Galatea v Te Puke, Rangitaiki v Opotiki 11am; Tai Mitchell/Laurence Boynton Trophy Tauranga West v Tauranga East 12.30pm.