KINGS HIGH SCHOOL INVITATIONAL TOUCH TOURNAMENT

The Balmac Tornadoes (Year 8A Touch Team) were invited to Kings High School on Friday 3 November to compete in a tournament which involved East Otago High School, Tahuna Intermediate and John McGlashan College.

In the first game against EOHS we scored some great tries but we were a little rusty defensively and managed a narrow win 5-4. We certainly improved in the second game against JMC with a solid 8-1 victory. In the third round we played Tahuna and came away winners, 5-2.

The next round was semi-finals where we met JMC once again, this time winning 6-1. We had expected to meet EOHS in the final as they had beaten Tahuna in pool play, but they then lost their semi-final to them in a tight tussle. So it was, that we met our old foe and great rivals, Tahuna in the grand final.

We were definitely starting to feel the heat, and were down 3-1 at half time. We managed to dig deep and bring it back to a 4-4 draw at the final whistle. In touch finals you never end with a draw, instead going down to a drop-off. We started with 4 on 4 and no-one scored over the next 2 minutes with play sea-sawing backwards and forwards. We then went down to 3 on 3 and a tactical substitution made a huge impact. With fresh legs and fancy footwork, Tyler Lam came on to score the last try which saw the Tornadoes take out the trophy for the sceond year running.

Awards received at the end of the day went to:

- Lennox Smaill (MVP)

- Tyler Lam (Fairplay)

- Matthew Sinnott (Most Improved)

Thank you to Dan Koni and the students at Kings High School who organsied a fantastic day. Thanks also to the parents that managed to get down to support the team.