By Rhys Chamberlain
Otago Country in the Heartland Championship?
At least that’s what former Otago hooker David Latta and the rest of the 2009 Otago Country administration will be analysing as the side kicks off its first tour in 25 years against Wairarapa Bush on Saturday afternoon in Masterton.
Latta and his crew will be keen to see whether his team of country club amateurs can foot it with the next tier of New Zealand players when they take on the Masterton based province along with Horowhenua-Kapiti in Levin on Wednesday and North Otago in Oamaru the following Saturday.
The squad is basing itself in Wellington for two of the three matches on tour and bussing to the venues before heading back down South to take on North Otago.
The tour has cost the administration and the country clubs approximately $35,000 and this is where the strive to play in the Heartland competition gets tough as some of that money had to be raised by each individual in the side through local business sponsors and fundraising events.
It will be an interesting test for the side whose player selection pool comes from each of the club competitions in both South/West Otago and Central Otago.
The side boasts a combined 10 players from last weeks Otago Country finals match up between Lawrence and Arrowtown where the visiting Lawrence was the victors 41-6. The squad also sees Otago squad members Sam Young and James Kenny from Lawrence along with Otago trialist Ben Blakely from Wakatipu and the big draw card, Charles Hore from Maniototo. Hore is recently returned from a stint overseas and rejoined his beloved Maniototo club late in the season.
The only major losses for the team leading into the first match is Upper Clutha centre and former Tasman NPC member Sam Gibbens who came away from the Central Otago semi final showdown against Wakatipu with a smashed eye socket and a broken nose.
The Squad is:
Blair Young, Hamish McDougall, Hamish Wilson, Vaughan Dowling, Willie Harris, Junior Maiono, Simon Grant, Daniel Iosefo, Daniel Dodds, Dave Kenny, Aiden Winter, Shaun Tauti, Ben Blakely, James Kenny, Sam Young, Alan Thomson, Charlie Hore, Reece Winter, Lex Kaleca, Sam Gibbons, Mitchell Lake, Bill Maiono, Sonny Rakaruru, Ben Purvis, Matt Faddes, Tom Kelly.
There is no storm more devastating than a hurricane born out of the Atlantic but the tornado, or twister as it’s commonly known, can have a major effect on people’s lives to the point of losing someone they love. The tornado is never more prevalent than in the United States of America’s tornado alley which runs between the Appalachian Mountains and the Rocky Mountains and includes the states of Texas, Oklahoma, Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, South Dakota, Colorado and Nebraska. Tornadoes are also common in Florida where their intensity can be among the highest.
As the anniversary of Hurricane Katrina and its 1,836 deaths blows by and the aftermath of its devastation still resonates through peoples daily lives some five years later, this article takes a look at the five most deadly hurricanes to howl through the Atlantic and the communities in left their wake.
It would be extremely hard to compare players and positions from the early 1900’s with those of the current millennia and decide who would don the black jersey in the greatest All Blacks rugby team of all time so I have decided to create the greatest All Blacks team of all time since 1990, the era that I can recall watching most matches. It also leaves me with adequate knowledge about most of the players in that era and not rely on what others say about certain players that I was unable to actually view playing the game.
So here it is, the greatest New Zealand All Blacks team since 1990:
Guillermo Del Toro
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