There was a significant event in the Border Rugby & Sports Club history almost 11 years ago to the day at Dallison Park that has some interesting parallels to current events.

The winless Border Senior team had been struggling in the 2013 WRFU competition with only 54 points scored and 400 conceded by the time Stihl Shop Wanganui Challenge Shield holders Marist Celtic arrived in Waverley.

Celtic did not leave with the Shield in tow, as a young Border team including then Cullinane College schoolboy and now Tasman Tanning Premier regular Tyrone Albert defied unbackable odds with a 25-24 upset.

With over 200 games for the club across Premier and Senior, current Border Seniors player-coach Dylan Amon would love to be able to get his young charges up for a similar one-off performance when Shield holders and table leaders Utiku Old Boys come to town on Saturday.

The Senior team have the Dallison Park stage all to themselves with Premier on a Kings Birthday
weekend break, while this away game is Utiku’s longest journey of the season.

“It will be definitely spoken about, but it’s get those little things done – improving every week,” said
Amon ahead of Wednesday night practice.

“They like the environment, and that this year more numbers and more sociable.

“The scores [against us] doesn’t reflect on some of the games.”

A squad of just over 20 without any Premier players filling in, if you took away Amon and his handful of veterans, the average age of the team would be roughly 19-21, almost all of them travelling from town to play for the club.

Helping to keep it all together are the wise men John Laurie and Matt Kiff in the forward pack, while Chris Belton runs the plays from first-five.

While winless with a -202 differential, the young Border team have been competitive in several of their seven matches so far, and are building a culture that should see improvement - certainly better than the not-so-distance past when the side would default the latter part of the season.

“It would be a shame to see the team go, there’s a lot of guys that want to do this – they’re guys to get in behind,” said Amon.

Senior draw, June 1, 1pm kickoffs unless noted (times subject to change):

Ruapehu vs Marton, Rochfort Park
Border vs Utiku Old Boys, Dallison Park
Marist Knights vs Pirates, Spriggens Park
Hunterville vs Celtic, Hunterville Domain
Counties vs Taihape, Macnab Domain (2pm)
Kaierau vs Ratana, Country Club