Just Jawsome - Makos win promotion [Nelson Mail]
Joe Wheeler, left, and the Tasman Makos cut loose after capping a brilliant ITM Cup championship season.
It all came down to one fateful kick in the finish, but last night the Tasman Makos secured the ITM Cup rugby championship title with a thrilling 26-25 win over Hawke's Bay at Trafalgar Park.
The Makos and just over 6000 of their supporters were celebrating a pulsating end to an already remarkable season with last night's final win, their 10th from 12 games. More significantly, it has also secured them promotion into next year's top-tier premiership competition.
A stunning last-minute try to Hawke's Bay's substitute halfback Chris Eaton almost stole the game from Tasman, but Ihaia West's difficult sideline conversion was astray, handing Tasman victory.
Tasman head coach Kieran Keane felt that despite Hawke's Bay's superb efforts, his players fully deserved the title as the culmination of an outstanding season.
"I feel very proud about Tasman and being able to mix it and have such a wonderful season with such a dedicated group of guys," he said.
"There's work to be done when you step up, but in the meantime, I think it's time to celebrate."
Keane said that the union had come through some "rough times" after financial problems almost saw them kicked out of the competition in 2008.
"But we rolled our sleeves up, we set a plan in place and tonight is the culmination of that plan. So it would have been a heartbreak to lose this."
Despite last night's success, Keane said that he and his assistant Leon MacDonald still hadn't decided about their coaching plans for next season.
"That's a long way off. I'm not sure," he said.
"I don't think it's a given that we'll be coaching that team. That has to be worked out, it's a big ask. I'm positive about it, but there are a lot of things that have to be discussed."
A key member of the team's leadership group, lock Joe Wheeler, said the Tasman union now had to work hard to try to keep the squad together.
"It's a special group of guys and just a special year, so we'll savour this moment for a long time, I think," said Wheeler.
"I think we'll just celebrate this for the next few days and enjoy each other's company and obviously the planning will go on. We'll enjoy the offseason and get back into it and look to build on it again because I think if we keep this group together, [that] is the challenge now.
"Obviously we don't have the finances of some of the other sides and there'll be guys sniffing around a lot of our talent, so hopefully we can find a stop-gap and find a bit more money so we can keep the talent around.
"We're a good side and we want to become a great side, so to stay up there, I think we need to invest a little bit more in the team to keep it around. So the challenge to Nelson and Marlborough is to get in behind us, I guess, and keep us up in that premiership.
"This year we had a bit of depth and we've just got to retain our talent."
