Takapuna keen to send-off stalwarts in style as season hots up

The Takapuna premier rugby side is playing for two milestone-makers this weekend in its North Harbour semifinal against Massey, away at Moire Park.

It beat East Coast Bays 29-20 in a scrappy quarterfinal last weekend.

Stalwart Marty Brink will play his 99th game for Takapuna this Saturday in the semi-final away at Moire Park. A win would mean he would celebrate his 100th match for the blue and golds in the North Harbour final.

Inspirational coach Aaron Katipa (pictured) marks his 70th match this weekend. The game could be his last, though he is hoping to go another week. He plans to retire at the end of the season after five years as premiers coach.

In a Covid-disrupted tenure Katipa has coached the side to a championship in 2022 and a final in 2021. This year has essentially been a rebuilding year after 15 of the 2022 side left for higher honours with Super rugby contracts, or playing overseas.

New Zealand Sevens player Moses Leo has returned for the playoffs.

Moana Pacifica player Lotu Inisi is in the squad against Massey, but his brother midfielder Fini is out as he is with the Tongan World Cup rugby team.

Chiefs player Bryn Gatland, who was a match-winner in last year’s final, is still out with injury as is halfback/first five Jack Heighton.

Midfielder Jordan Hyland is back in the starting lineup.

“Massey has beaten us this year. This match is our final… we are putting everything into it – the guys are really hoping for a big one for Marty, so he can make his 100 in the final,”Katipa said.

The 2023 season has turned up a few surprises. Aaron’s son Bailey has shifted from number 12 to loosened prop with great success.

He was on the field for the full 80 minutes in each of Takapuna’s last six games and was named player of the day against East Coast Bays.

Younger players such as Jack Lee and Tristyn Cook, both 18, have developed strongly over 2023 and would be on the bench on Saturday.

Takapuna almost beat fellow competition heavyweight North Shore in its final match of pool play, pinning its opponents inside the 22 for much of the match, with an attacking brand of running rugby, which it would continue on Saturday.

“We want people to come out to watch rugby and be entertained and watch tries being scored,” Katipa said.

TFC in hunt for point

Takapuna Football Club suffered a 3-0 home defeat to Western Springs AFC last Saturday. But a loss by Bay Olympics to Birkenhead United, by the same score, means the yellow and blues remain second to last, rather than bottom of the table. They are one point away from climbing out of the relegation zone and will get another chance to do this in their next game which is away to Hamilton Wanderers on 15 July.

Runners on long haul

Members of Westlake Boys High School’s talented distance running team have travelled to Kenya to experience high-altitude training. During their time in the leading running nation they fitted in a side trip to a game reserve, in what is an annual adventure. Before the holidays, Westlake’s six-strong senior team claimed first place in the national cross-country championship team race.

Silver in squash

Westlake Girls had to settle for silver at Auckland Secondary Schools Squash Teams Championship, going down 4-1 to Shore rivals Takapuna Grammar. The final ended a strong run for the team which is led by NZ schools representative Lucy Cadness-Aspinall. It hopes to turn the tables at nationals next month.

New play ideas could be as easy falling off a log

Jacquelyn Collins is a woman on a mission – to make children’s play more adventurous and less managed.

The Auckland Council play-advocacy adviser is asking local boards across the city to support a new approach, and says some suburbs already boast good examples.

These include swings on street trees, tree houses and opportunities for children to climb and jump in public spaces.

Encouraging children to play freely is a good thing, she says.

It also keeps them engaged in play longer, whereas older children soon outgrow most standard council playgrounds.

Introducing traditional Māori play elements into public parks is another idea she supports to engage people in having fun and being active.

Collins says leaving the likes of a fallen tree to climb on in a council reserve is another example of the sort of lower-cost option she has been trialling, albeit with the tree trimmed for safety.

This was being piloted elsewhere on the North Shore, she told the DevonportTakapuna Local Board at a workshop.

Collins would like the design of public spaces to be done in a way that children

Hop can enjoy. One example she gave was in Sunnynook, where a community project had painted hopscotch squares on a footpath, using te reo for numbering.

The area outside Devonport library also provided a fine example of how this could be done, she said, with a sculpture of Benjamin, the late library cat, being something that would draw children’s attention and the seating nearby robust enough to be climbed and walked on.

Other more ambitious ideas she wants to encourage include ‘play streets’ where, with the approval of authorities, streets are temporarily closed, allowing for and games and activities to be set up to encourage community get-togethers.

The concept was successfully trialled in 2021, with guidelines from Waka Kotahi, and Auckland Transport is looking into further pilots.

Board members praised Collins for her enthusiasm and expressed interest in some of the ideas.

But they questioned whether play streets might be costly because of transportmanagement requirements.

Board member Mel Powell also encouraged Collins to look at how various non-Western cultures liked to play to see if this was another opportunity to add diverse appeal to projects.

It was agreed that Collins would come back to the board later in the year to talk about more opportunities in its area.

The board wanted a clear understanding of who would do any work it authorised in local parks.