2020 TuwharetoaSecondary School Ki o Rahi Regionals

A beautiful day in Turangi as the Tuwharetoa Secondary School regionals took place at Tongariro School. We caught up with He Oranga Facilitator and event organiser for the 2020 Tuwharetoa Secondary School Ki o Rahi Regionals, Mr Roera Hartley to get his insights into the day. He has thankfully compiled the following article:

We had 5 schools represented this year with 8 teams competing. The schools were Tongariro School, Te Kura o Hirangi, Taumarunui High School, Te Kura o Ngapuke, and Te Kura Kaupapa Maori o Whakarewa I Te Reo Ki Tuwharetoa.

Ngapuke, Hirangi, and Whakarewa each had 2 teams. This year the competition was split into 2 grades, we had our top grade which featured Tongariro, Hirangi, Whakarewa, and Taumarunui. Our Development grade featured Ngapuke (already qualified through Te Nehenehenui), and all the b teams from the schools.

To qualify for nationals the school had to finish top 3 in the top grade after round robin. The final placings after round robin were 1st - Hirangi, 2nd - Taumarunui, 3rd - Whakarewa, 4th - Tongariro.

Placings for the development grade were 1st - Ngapuke, 2nd - Whakarewa, 3rd - Ngapuke, 4th - Hirangi. After round robin was over we did a cross over to determine our Tuwharetoa Champion for 2020.

Final Placings for 2020 were 8th - Hirangi 2, 7th - Tongariro, 6th - Ngapuke 2, 5th - Whakarewa 1. Our top 4 cross over games were Hirangi vs Whakarewa 2, and Ngapuke vs Taumarunui.

The winners of these semi finals were Hirangi and Ngapuke which meant a repeat of last years final.

Determined not to let fate repeat itself Ngapuke came out firing with a strong first quarter. Hirangi clawed their way back in the second quarter and at half time the score was 17-14 to Ngapuke. Third quarter Ngapuke started to assert their dominance and Hirangi started slipping off the pace. Fourth quarter comes around and it’s a complete shutout with Ngapuke finishing strong to take the victory 27-19.

Your 2020 Tuwharetoa Champions Te Kura o Ngapuke! It was an awesome day for all the schools involved. Awesome to see Whakarewa return back to the senior competition for the first time in 5 years and bringing 2 teams as well!

Firstly I’d like to thank Tongariro School for letting us use the school fields and facilities to run this tournament, next I’d like to thank the schools that turned up and competed to make this tournament what it was, and lastly I’d like to thank our referees that helped me on the day, Te Takinga New, Matakatea Wanikau, and our whanau who come all the way from Auckland every year to help us out big mihi to yous. See yous all in 2021!

Roera Hartley

Results - 2020 Tuwharetoa Secondary Schools Ki o Rahi Regionals