Barracudas leave Panthers scoreless in rugby league final

East Coast Bay Barracudas took home the Pat Bennett Memorial Cup after beating the Ngaruawahia Panthers 10-0 in an intense final at Patterson Park on Saturday afternoon.

The annual rugby league nine-a-side tournament started in 1994 and is in its 19^th year after skipping a year due to rain.

The day’s atmosphere at Ngaruawahia was relaxed but competitive as local clubs and out-of-towners like Pikiao and Central battled it out in the fast-paced game of league.

New Zealand Rugby League’s Tony Lajpold believes this is a good warm up for the Waicoa Bay Championship. “It’s a good standard of football here and I look at the individuals as well as the teams.”

Last year’s winners, Hamilton City Tigers, were favoured contenders, but were knocked out of the play-offs with a 4-0 loss to Ngaruawahia in the first round.

East Coast Bay lost to Ngaruawahia in round seven, so for the Barracudas the win was unexpected.

“This is only our second year and we come here expecting not to win. Panthers have good hard runners,” said East Coast Bay player Ricky Bogue.

Interest in the tournament was massive, with 15 teams playing for the title.

“There is already an increase this year,” said Wynae Tukere.

“It’s always been popular but I think the Nines (Dick Smith NRL Auckland Nines) were a catalyst for this event, they made it more popular.”

Ngaruawahia were in top form, winning all three of their rounds to advance to the final, so it was a disappointing loss for the team.

Ngaruawahia player Jake Scott said: “They (East Coast Bay) were a lot harder than we thought but we had fun.”

Turangawaewae Rugby League Committee representative, Marae Tukere, was happy with the turnout and said they even had to turn teams away.

“I’m glad it’s an away team and a local team in the final, that’s nice to see.”

The Waikato round-robin games will start March 26^th, with the Waicoa Bay Championship followed the weekend after.