Makos' road to glory [Nelson Mail]
PARTY TIME: The record-breaking Tasman Makos celebrate their victory in the ITM Cup Championship Final.
The Tasman Makos ended their most successful season in thrilling fashion at Trafalgar Park last Friday with victory over Hawke's Bay in the ITM Cup championship final. Wayne Martin looks at the season that's been and the Tasman Rugby Union's plans for next year's entry into the premiership.
You know you've made some sort of a dent as a rugby organisation when a skinny white boy from Reefton suddenly becomes an overnight rock star.
Few players captured the public's attention more than the Tasman Makos' record-breaking first five-eighth Marty Banks during this year's ITM Cup rugby season. Plucked from the Nelson Bays club scene, the unlikely former Buller Heartland star assumed a virtual cult following that took everyone by surprise.
But while Banks certainly played a critical role in the Makos' championship success, he was merely a by-product, just one component of a remarkable Tasman rugby experience that culminated in last Friday night's 26-25 ITM Cup championship final win over Hawke's Bay at Trafalgar Park.
Banks unwittingly became the face of an organisation that ultimately delivered on the promise that's been simmering over the past few years. And there were any number of stars in this year's Makos lineup, each contributing to the season-long process that eventually led to Friday's pulsating Trafalgar Park finale.
Hawke's Bay No 10 Ihaia West could have destroyed all of Tasman's dreams in the dramatic final moments of Friday's thriller. Instead, his potentially title winning conversion to halfback Chris Eaton's desperate last-minute try drifted in front of the posts, leaving the Makos and their supporters to celebrate their historic one-point victory.
Sometimes justice prevails, and while few could have begrudged Hawke's Bay the win, those who have both celebrated and suffered along with New Zealand's newest rugby union throughout its brief eight-year existence finally found solace in the consummation of an extraordinary Makos season.
Formed late in 2005 as an amalgamation of the Nelson Bays and Marlborough unions, the fledgling Makos were entered by the Tasman Rugby Union in the national provincial competition in 2006 - small fish in an intimidatingly big pond. And after surviving initial attempts by the NZRU in 2008 to have the financially strapped union kicked to touch, the Tasman Rugby Union has now become a standard-bearer for an often high-risk style of play that became ingrained into this year's national rugby consciousness.
The result was a record-breaking season, with Tasman setting 10 new individual or team milestones for the province and equalling another. Banks was responsible for five of them, as well as sharing the national point scoring title - for both divisions - with Otago's Hayden Parker, on 170 points.
Besides winning 10 of their 12 games, Tasman also beat all four teams to have held the Ranfurly Shield this season - sadly without ever getting a look at the coveted Log o' Wood. That included a solid 40-20 win over current holders and last year's promoted championship team Counties-Manukau.
The Tana Umaga-coached, Pukekohe-based Counties side was also one of three premiership teams beaten by Tasman this season, with the Makos' 64-28 win over Waikato at Trafalgar Park the union's new record high score.
There was that inexplicable and embarrassing fifth-round loss to North Harbour, who finished bottom of the championship division, which, other than a loss to eventual premiership champions Canterbury, represented the low point of Tasman's season. But it sparked a positive response from the side and a seven-game winning streak that helped bring their season to last Friday's dramatic climax.
Besides Banks' critical point-scoring efforts, Tasman's accomplished and well-respected coaching team of Kieran Keane and Leon MacDonald were finally able to settle on an established core of players who consistently delivered.
The starting front row of Tim Perry, Quentin MacDonald and Sila Puafisi provided the rock-solid foundation for a reliable scrum, enhanced by prop Siua Halanukonuka's regular impact off the bench.
Locks Joe Wheeler and Alex Ainley, with honest backup support from Fijian international Tevita Cavubati, each brought up 50 games for the province this season and continually produced performances to match their experience. Tasman's lineout efficiency was a crucial part of sustaining the team's attacking approach.
Tasman's loose forward division commanded attention. Captain and openside flanker Shane Christie, dynamic try-scoring No 8 Liam Squire, and exciting blindside flanker Tevita Koloamatangi formed the regular core, with seamless support from Gary Redmond and Vernon Fredericks.
Selected for his utility value, newcomer Billy Guyton eased comfortably into the halfback's role ahead of original first-choice selection Mark Swanepoel, with Tom Marshall and a revitalised Kieron Fonotia providing the midfield stability. Wingers James Lowe, Mitchell Scott and Bryce Heem posed genuine threats to every opposition defence, and despite his late-season relegation to the bench, veteran fullback Robbie Malneek still showed touches of his attacking flair.
Keane and MacDonald again masterminded the operation, and while not always fluent, and by no means error-free, it was always exciting and often spectacular to watch.
But with success comes increased expectation, meaning that the onus is now on Tasman's new chief executive Tony Lewis and his front office to ensure that the transition into next year's premiership is as smooth as possible.
Just two weeks into the job, Lewis' initial focus has been attempting to retain the coaching and management staff, and as many of the core playing group as possible. Nine players have already re-signed for next year, and although Keane and MacDonald have been carefully considering another season at the helm, Lewis was hopeful of a positive outcome.
It must all be achieved within a working budget, and given the union's $776,800 salary cap for 2014, Lewis says that the challenge is to plan, not just for next season, but for an extended stay in the top tier of New Zealand provincial rugby.
A union's salary cap is estimated at 36 per cent of its commercial revenue from two years previously, with next year's salary cap set at a maximum $1,025,000 per union.
"If you look at that, it's very good governance from Rugby New Zealand, I think, because it means that everyone's got to live within their means. But it creates a monster for us, because there's expectations from player managers," says Lewis.
"I was reminded in the weekend by someone . . I think it was [former Canterbury and All Blacks lock] Vance Stewart, who said that in all his time of coaching Crusaders and Canterbury [teams], the players always played best when they were happiest," said Lewis.
"You can't put a dollar figure on that, so what we've got to do, we've got to work within our budgets, and it's really crucial that we sign up all the players that Kieran and Leon have indicated they want to keep."
Lewis said the union's aim was to increase next year's revenue by $300,000.
"That's just a shared cost of different travel, of being in a different competition and looking long term that we can reward our players more. We'd love to be in a position where we could spend $1,025,000 on the team. We've got to get our revenue up in order to stay in the division, so we're not just looking at next year, we're looking two, three, four years down the track so we can get our salary cap up to the $1 million mark. That's got to be our goal, that means we're then competing with the Aucklands, Canterburys and Wellingtons."
Just as critical, in Lewis' view, was Tasman's ability to attract and retain players, with the union's high performance programme under manager Gary Stevens a key part of that process.
"I've said to Gary. . . that we've got to build the best high performance programme of all the provincial unions - forgetting about the big five - so that people want to come to us," Lewis said.
"That's a critical part of the revenue stream . . . [so that] people come to us and we can channel those people into clubs in Marlborough and Nelson.
"So we're getting that influx of young kids who see that Tasman has got a fantastic rugby culture and ITM Cup programme, and under-pinning that we've got the best high performance programme - and that all costs money. If we can get that right and we can attract those players, then we can push them out to clubland and that'll increase the standard of club football."
Lewis says it's important for club players from both Nelson Bays and Marlborough to realise that wearing the Makos jersey isn't exclusive and that there is always an opportunity for club players like Banks to make the grade.
"The key is, Kieran and everyone on the [TRU] board are very keen on clubland. We've looked at the Marty Banks issue about how someone's come through [the club system] and I think that's also got to be a driving force for all our players."
Maintaining Tasman's close links with the Crusaders was also high among Lewis' priorities.
"It's critically important for the Crusaders region to have two teams in the premiership, and we hope that the Crusaders will recognise that, and we're hopeful that recognition of the achievements that we've made, that they'll work with us to ensure that we stay there, and that we get a lot of support around that. I think it's fantastic for the region."
Lewis said that his visits to Blenheim hadn't revealed any of the supposed lingering discontent between the two sub-unions.
"I've been to Blenheim three times now since I've been here and I have only heard positives from the chairman of the Marlborough Rugby Union [David McCormick] and other people, and I keep on hearing that everyone in Blenheim wants to be a Tasman Mako - from the kids and everyone.
"You're always going to have people who want to do their own thing, but what we've got to do is just put our heads down and bums up and work hard to show we've got Tasman out there, and we're working with all the fine rugby people in Blenheim."
It's been a measure of the Makos' outstanding efforts that 10 of this year's squad have been selected either in full Super Rugby squads or in wider training groups for next year's Super 15. Christie, Wheeler and Squire were also selected for the Maori All Blacks.
The obvious objective now for Tasman is to cash in on that success and ensure that they don't follow Hawke's Bay's lead by returning to the second-tier championship competition after just one season in the premiership.
"I'll be working very hard to make sure that we build on the goodwill the team has created, with some incredible performances, not only in the schools, but work out with clubs how we can drive that in clubland. Also, more importantly, how we can keep the two regions on the same path for the benefit of the team."
