Young men of Metro claim MRU Colts title
By Jared Smith
It was fitting the great rivalry of the past two seasons of MRU Colts rugby played out such a gripping final chapter, but when the smoke cleared, St Johns Whanganui Metro brought the Gordon Brown Memorial Cup home on Saturday.
Facing defending champions the Feilding Yellows at the Massey University grounds, having split their games this season, Metro came from behind to win 20-16 – continuing the cycle of winning the Manawatu championship in the third season of the current coaching and playing group.
Established in 2016 by Carl Gibson and Darryl Malcolm, Metro first won the MRU Colts title in 2018, with Mark Cosford and Russell Gedye taking over the following season and taking the new core through another three years of playoffs to regain the crown.
Off to Marist next season, first-five Joey Devine made full use of a penalty advantage to snap off a drop goal to level the scores 3-3, before the Yellows dropped his attacking kick and the Metro chasers were right there to fire the ball out to speedster Jack O’Leary – who dashed off to the corner for his 28th try of the season.
But keeping the ball in tight, away from Metro’s flyers, the Yellows came back strongly, getting a penalty and then scoring a converted try off the ruck-and-maul to lead 13-8 at halftime.
Metro came back out firing with winger Cody Davy scoring under the posts, converted by Devine, but having pulled the favourites into a tight contest, the Yellows popped over another penalty for an eerie 16-15 – the identical scoreline to the first game of the year and Metro’s only defeat.
“We were all freaking out, thinking, ‘this can’t be’,” said Cosford.
“Things weren’t sticking. Put it this way, it wasn’t the best game we’ve played this season.
“But their D was incredible, keeping that big Feilding pack out.”
The team, which had vowed after last year’s heartbreaking loss in the final that they would not be denied in 2021, dug deep to find a way – with reserve halfback Jerome McKenna scoring to regain the lead with 12 minutes left.
Buoyed on by their sideline, Metro held back the yellow-and-black tide throughout the final stages to set up scenes of unrestrained joy at the fulltime whistle.
“The huge support was unreal – we had half of Whanganui down here,” said Cosford.
“A lot of hard work, and that’s the reward – Russell and I are really proud.”
At least eight of this squad will now move on to other rugby opportunities within either the WRFU or MRU, with Marist, Kaierau and Border some of the likely landing spots.
