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RugbyWA Smarter than Smoking Development Officers were busy promoting rugby in Newman and surrounding Aboriginal Communities last week in the lead-up to the Bloody Slow Cup between ‘Australia’ and ‘New Zealand’.
The Bloody Slow Cup is an annual event held by Police Legacy in Newman to honour the memory of four Police Officers who were killed in a plane crash in 2001.
Development Officers Tobias Hoskins, Graham Cooper and Cruze Ah-Nau ran numerous MBF Force Express Clinics throughout Newman schools, the remote Aboriginal community of Jigalong and at mine sites close to the town.
Jigalong, one of the largest Aboriginal communities in Western Australia, welcomed Hoskins, Cooper and Ah Nau with open arms and the development officers were thoroughly impressed with kids rugby skills. Ellen Tompsett, Deputy Principal of the Jigalong Remote Community School, said everyone had a great time and the visit was greatly appreciated by the whole community.
“The visit to Jigalong Remote Community School was very successful with their energy and positive attitude successfully engaging all our students from Kindy through to Secondary in their activities,” Ms Tompsett said.
The Smarter than Smoking Development Officers then attended both Australia’s and New Zealand’s training sessions before Saturday’s big game and offered a few pointers as well as take both teams through some set plays. Ah Nau, an Emirates Western Force Academy prop, assisted the forwards with their line-outs while Hoskins and Cooper helped the backs with their moves.
Emirates Western Force scrumhalf Justin Turner also made the journey to Newman a few days before the trans-Tasman clash to assist in clinics and also to present both Bloody Slow Cup teams with their jerseys. Turner took time to attend South Newman Primary where the students performed traditional Australian and New Zealand songs and dances before heading over to Newman Primary to enjoy the Police Pipe Band perform.
Saturday was an early start for all with a Remembrance Service held for the four Police Officers who lost their lives in 2001, the RugbyWA attendees extremely honoured to lay a wreath at the service.
As the game approached a vocal crowd gathered and were treated to some excellent rugby in the curtain raiser matches. Yandi Mine Site defeated Area C mine site 4-1 in their annual touch game. The Australian girls beat the Kiwi’s 5-4 in their touch game and the Newman Under 11’s went down to Perth Bayswater Under 11’s 34-0.
The clash everyone was waiting for kicked off at 6.30pm at Newman’s Boomerang Park in front of more than 5,000 fans. In a confident start to the game the Aussies took the lead however they couldn’t maintain the pressure as New Zealand finished the better to score a 34-14 victory.
RugbyWA