A mini fest of rugby took place at Casuarina last Saturday in perfect winter conditions. I must admit to being somewhat confused when I arrived as Casuarina were doing battle with Casino in a Division II fixture on the main oval. A glance to the north confirmed Ballina were warming up for their top of the table encounter with Evans River.

The Division 1 Far North Coast competition had a general bye last weekend due to the Country Championships being held at Tamworth. Congratulations to the following Ballina players who represented the Zone. Ant Lolohea, Stan Lolohea, Sam Pearce and Wilson Lovokuro. Sam Giltrap was a late withdrawal due to injury.

A perfect winter’s day welcomed a large crowd for our last home fixture until the 17th of July. Unfortunately for the spectators, our Women’s 10’s won on forfeit with Evans River unable to field a team.

Hasty last minute planning and the greatly appreciated efforts of Casuarina Rugby Club allowed our away fixtures against Mullumbimby and Bangalow to take place last Saturday. They were the only games played in the zone due to ongoing ground closures.

The difficulties faced by the zone in formulating a draw for 2022 have been well documented in a previous post. This has been worsened by the prolonged spell of wet cool weather that continues, highlighted by the fact that only one of nine scheduled matches in division one and two were played last Saturday and the remainder postponed due to waterlogged pitches. The zone will face difficulty in rescheduling the competition should the weather pattern persist. Unfortunately this weeks round of fixtures appears unlikely to take place.

So Saturday was a home game due to Wollongbar’ s Lyle Park being soaked much like all other sporting fields on the Far North Coast. Ballina and WAR have played for the Dane Cupitt Shield for many years in memoriam of Dane who played for both club’s and it is an important event in our calendar. Dane’s parents Noel & Marg were in attendance at the game as they have for many years and they truly appreciate the efforts made by the clubs and feel grateful and humbled by this. The shield is determined by the progressive scores of all grades and this year, Ballina were convincing winners against a strong WAR club.

The late Richie Benaud would have quietly smirked if he was presenting the scores from Quays at 5pm last Saturday with the scoreboard showing scores of Div II 22-7 Women10’s 22-17 Div I 22-22 in our matches v Casuarina.

Ballina Rugby Club stalwart, Dave Shaw has committed to a match summary whenever he attends a Seahorse Game. Dave has strong roots in the club from the early days especially with the growth of our Junior teams. We welcome Dave’s views and I am sure you will see him at more of our games. Thanks Dave.

Well the 2022 Far North Coast Rugby Season is upon us.

With much distraction and obstacles such as Covid-19 and regional flooding, the Ballina Seahorses have 1st and 2nd Division teams for men competing in the Senior grades this year.

What a great way to start the year with the Ballina Seahorses hosting the Fijian Drua for their internal trial. Footy Season is starting and now is the time to think about strapping some boots on.