New Brighton Rugby Club Annual Report 2013 (Volume 1) | Page 16

Also a big thanks to our loyal supporters, families and children etc. who were there on the
side lines every single, week cheering the boys on.
A big thanks to Roddy Butt our RDO, and to the Division 1 Coaches Steve Ellis and Scott
Pawson for helping us out either with players or live trainings, this helped us immensely.
Finally to the Division 1 boys: huge congratulations for the outstanding season you had.
What an occasion the final was and everyone that was there will remember that for a very
long time!!
Kia Kaha - see you all next season
JP,Mole,Keishy,J-Ray
DIVISION TWO
Premier Colts

Played 16
Won 7
Lost 8
Points for 356
Points Against 365
Top Points Mark Burton 143
Top Try Mark Burton 16
This season proved to be one of rebuilding and huge improvement for the Premier Colts.
With the Academy established and some fantastic sponsors on board, we assembled a core
group of players late October 2012 to start fitness testing and strength and conditioning
sessions. It was clear to see, even at this early stage, that we had the makings of a very
formidable side. By the time the first game of the season came around we were fit and ready
to make our mark in the competition.
We did just that in our opening game by defeating a very strong Burnside outfit, 32-22. A
fighting 25-22 loss to Christchurch the following week in terrible conditions had us all
feeling we were on track.
What followed was a tough week of 3 games in 7 days. The first was what is always an
exceptionally hard game against Lincoln University at their home ground. Missed
opportunities proved costly but we left there still feeling good about where we were heading.
The Thursday of Anzac day we faced University at home and unfortunately turned in the
worst performance of the season. A game we should have won turned into a convincing loss
and some soul searching was required. To the boys’ credit they all got together on the Friday
night to re-gather and discuss what went wrong and how it could be rectified.
The following day we faced the top team of the grade HSOB for the shield. We delivered
them their only loss of the season and walked away with the shield. A real highlight of the
season. We progressed through the season with as many wins as we had losses and I guess if
there was a frustration it was that four of our losses were by 5 points or less.
Coming into the business end of the season we needed four wins on the trot to make the
top four. At this point we made some tough calls and let 3 guys go who were simply not
adding any value and were becoming a disruption at training and during the games. The
turnaround in attitude and performance from the team once these guys were gone was