Marlborough Weekly - 29 October 2019

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Tuesday 29 October 2019 Follow Tasman’s long and winding road to the top

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Oh, what a feeling

Alex Nankivell, left and Tim O’Malley lift the Mitre 10 Premiership trophy at Trafalgar Park on Saturday night. Photo: Evan Barnes/Shuttersport.

Peter Jones Reporter

peter@marlboroughmedia.co.nz

When Marlborough wrestled the Ranfurly Shield from Canterbury in 1973 Red Devils skipper Ramon Sutherland famously commented that perhaps the little top of the south province had grabbed “a tiger by the tail”.

Forty six years later Ramon, now president of the Tasman Rugby Union, suggests the nation’s newest union may have done the same thing. “I think we have got another [tiger by the tail] … it’s one thing to get there, now they have got to keep this standard up … but I’m sure they can,” he says. On Saturday evening the Mako

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completed a perfect 12-from12 season with a 31-14 win over Wellington in Nelson to claim the Mitre 10 Cup premiership title for the first time and underline their status as the country’s leading province. Although Ramon has been surprised with the speed with which Tasman has risen to the top of the provincial tree, he says good

coaching has been the key to success. “Kieran Keane started it and it has carried on through Leon [MacDonald] and that’s why the improvement has been so fast.” He feels the Mako’s win will do a huge amount for the sport in the Marlborough/Nelson region. “It shows that you don’t have to be a big city union to [win the

premiership]. “With the right encouragement and finances you can do it, but in a small area with a small population everyone has to do a lot of work.” Although it is hard to compare achievements from different eras, Ramon suggested Tasman’s NPC

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Marlborough Weekly - 29 October 2019 by TSM Marlborough - Issuu