Bay Harbour: July 26, 2023

Bay Harbour News Wednesday July 26 2023
10
SPORT
Latest Canterbury news at starnews.co.nz
Wave’s season a turnaround in form
Sumner has ended its
Metro Premier rugby
season on a high,
winning the plate.
Jaime Cunningham
reports
IT WAS a fitting finish to the
season for the Sumner Wave
on Saturday, rounding off their
solid year by securing the Metro
Premier plate with a 20-17 win
over Burnside.
The game marked the ninth
win, and meant the Wave
finished the season with a perfect
record at St Leonards Square.
Head coach
Gareth D’almeida
said winning
the plate was the
“bare minimum”,
after going down
to New Brighton
25-21 in the
elimination final
Gareth
D’almeida
earlier this month.
“We were really
disappointed after
the close New
Brighton loss,” he said.
“We had to reset our goals and
winning the plate was our new
one.”
In typical Wave fashion, it was
a slow start to the plate final,
trailing by two tries in the early
stages and 14-7 at the half.
ON THE RUN: Sumner first five George Worboys prepares to offload in the plate final win
against Burnside.
PHOTO: TONY BRUNT PHOTOGRAPHY ​
“I think we had to make some
adjustments at halftime, as we
couldn’t play how we wanted to
in the weather,” D’almeida said.
However, the Wave’s came back
in the second half, preventing
Burnside from scoring in the last
40 minutes.
The Wave not only secured the
plate, but it was also their fifth
win at home this season.
D’almeida said remaining
unbeaten at St Leonards was
his highlight of the season as a
coach.
“It was a highlight for me
personally, as we also remained
unbeaten at home when I was
coach of the colts side which went
back-to-back (in 2020 and 2021),”
he said.
“But the Lincoln University
game where we came back
against a quality side like that
was also quite impressive.”
The season under D’almeida
was a turnaround in form
compared to last year, where
the Wave managed three wins –
and just one in the round robin
stages.
Finals were largely determined
by bonus points this season,
with third-placed Lincoln
University, seventh-placed
Sumner and the teams between
all winning seven games in the 11
rounds.
While Sumner were unable
to progress into the top six,
D’almeida was content with the
team’s season as a whole.
“It was not a bad season
compared to where they won
three games last year,” he
said.
“We’ve beat quality sides like
Old Boys who are in the final this
weekend.”
However, it’s been a case of
‘what ifs’ for Sumner this year,
with the team only receiving
three home games in the
round-robin stage due to game
management issues last year.
• Turn to page 12
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