This is it. It was the biggest day of all. The TA Gwynne Shield Team met at Waikato Stadium, in Hamilton, arriving at the scene of the playoff for third and fourth, but we had other things on our mind, well, really only one. The Gwynne Shield itself. We were coming up against our foes, Cambridge in the final of the Gwynne Shield 2010. The last time TA had won the Gwynne shield was 20 years ago, and our coach was part of that team. He was keen on getting his hands on the shield again, and he had faith in us to win it.
So there we were, running out on to the field to face the Cambridge team for a second time in a final this year, hoping we could have a replay of the McKenzie Cup . We lined up on the 10 metre line, facing Cambridge. Then the loud cheer of our supporters came, and they knew what we were doing. Mana started the Haka off, making the Cambridge players a little bit scared, and then the whole team joined in. The whole time we were yelling our heads off, and when we finished the Haka, the crowd roared and the coach came on to the field and said he would be surprised if we could talk after the volume of the Haka.
But on the Waikato Stadium turf, I felt like I was just like one of the Waikato players, who play here nearly every week of the rugby season. BUt the whistle went, I stopped dreaming, and I kicked off to start the final. WE got possession straight away. WE scored within the 1st 5 minutes, and Cambridge never came back. Halftime score – 20 0 to us. Cambridge managed to score a try in the 2nd half, but they couldn’t catch up. End Score – 25 5 to us. We won . WE are the best team in the Waikato and probably the smallest town. We did the aka for our supporters and then went in the changing rooms to yell out as lud as our lungs would let us ‘ We are the champions.’Cambridge were in the changing room next to us, and they probably heard us singing. But we didn’t care, we just won the Gwynne Shield!
There was the ceremony for the medals and shields, and we got our shield, and waited anxiously to see how many people from our team got a trial for Roller Mills, which is Waikato for our age. They went through our team and named 4 people from our team. I was a bit disappointed because I thought I had a good tournament, but that soon turned into excitement when i heard these exact words – ‘ And last but not least, Jake Gibson TA’ I was filled with happiness and m,y dad came racing up to me and shook my hand and was so proud of me. I thought he was a bit drunk because he was hugging me and there was nothing he wasn’t saying out loud. I was quite embarrassed.
BUt after that we all headed for the Redoubt, to have a few drinks, well the parents did.


