21st Jul Plate Final vs Mahu

There's an old saying that winners are grinners, and so it was a happy Northcote Prem 2 changing shed after the Plate Final. Yes, it was the Plate, and we would have much rather been playing for the Championship, but that didn't happen. However, the 58-23 win over Mahurangi was probably the best performance of the season, a joyful exhibition of power rugby and running rugby where Cote ran in nine tries.

All nine tries were good, but two in particular caught the eye. Halfway through the first half, Tui Siale crossed at the end of a thrilling move that had started inside the Cote 22 and had gone through 6 or 8 pairs of hands, backs and forwards. Thrilling stuff that had the excellent crowd roaring their approval. Then, midway through the second half, the coaching manual was tipped on its head. What normally happens is that the forwards bash away before releasing it to the backs, who look for a mismatch that sees a twinkle-toed midfield back running at a big, less-than-agile forward. What Cote did was free the ball up to Tristan Uhi. He's a forward. He's big but he's also very, very agile. He stepped through a gap, danced past one tackle, powered through another, drew the defender and then fired a perfect pass to David Bird, who flew into the corner for his first try after damaging a shoulder way back at the beginning of the season.

Other try scorers were Harry Johnson, who got two plus a splash down in the big puddle in the far corner, Jameson Martin, Jordan Quinn, Josh Anderson, Emerson Bessell and a hugely popular score to the hard-working Toa Taufateau.
So, we won the Plate. Except there isn't one. The Union doesn't have a trophy for the Plate winner, so we brought our own, raiding the kitchen for a suitably sized platter that may not have the gravitas of some of the trophies, but it's ours. LTC.