Westlake triumph in traditional sport

A mixed kī-o-rahi team of students from Westlake Boys and Westlake Girls High Schools were crowned champions in the schools’ first appearance at the sport’s national tournament, which was held in Rotorua during the school holidays.

The team went undefeated through eight games. Ariana Hebden and Isaac Murray-Macgregor both made the secondary-schools tournament team, with Murray-Macgregor also named male MVP.

Kī-o-rahi is a traditional Māori sport, in which teams take turns playing the roles of ‘kīoma’ and ‘taniwha’.

Kīoma score points by touching the pou (poles) on the outside of the pitch then running the kī (ball) through an inner zone and touching it down in the centre. Each pou touch made before the ball is placed is worth one point.

Taniwha score by throwing the kī at a tupu (drum) in the centre of the field while two defenders from the kīoma team try to block their efforts. Taniwha defend by trying to rip the kīoma players’ tags before they can score.

The Westlake team beat Turanga Wahine Turanga Tane (a combined team from Gisborne Boys and Girls High Schools) 14-7 in the tournament final.

Westlake coach Kath Beckett, the Westlake Girls head of physical education, said that as the sport was new to most of the players, she had to teach them how to play along with the tactics that would hold up at a national level.

“It’s a really different level compared to playing at school.”

The schools plan to combine again next year.

Third time unlucky for Sunnynook dairy raided in early hours

A Sunnynook dairy has been broken into for the third time in three years, with police taking over 24 hours to arrive at the scene.

Thieves smashed their way through the glass frontage of the Tonkin Dr dairy last Sunday, 23 April, at 5.30am. They fled with cigarettes after destroying the cash register and eftpos machines.

No staff were in the closed store at the time. Owner Maggie Jiang notified police that morning, but they did not arrive to assess the scene for more than 24 hours.

Jiang told the Observer she “can’t understand” why it took so long. “The police station is just there and no one came to see me.”

Clean-up and stock-taking could not begin until Monday when police left, so as not to contaminate the scene.

“I don’t know how much I have or how much I’ve lost,” said Jiang.

The shop was expected to open later in the week. If payment systems were not sorted in time, bank transfers were likely to be needed at first.

Police did not dispute Jiang’s timeline, but said the matter, reported on the non-emergency crime line, was assigned appropriately.