A powerful team culture is behind the Gatton Black Pigs chasing their first Risdon Cup since 1992 at Toowoomba Sports Ground on Saturday.
Rugby, and any team sport, is always more than simply throwing 15 bodies onto the field at kick-off and crossing your fingers.
As co-coaches, brothers Thomas and Christopher Kent have built the connections between players into a powerful force to magnify their footy skills.
It’s not as easy as it might sound when you are trying to mesh disparate groups…students from UQ Gatton, locals and rugby-loving Fijian meatworkers.
It’s working because the Black Pigs knocked off the Goondiwindi Emus 20-15 in the preliminary final last weekend to earn a grand final shot.
They will play the Toowoomba Rangers from 3:45pm on the biggest day of the season for Darling Downs Rugby.
“We’ve tried really hard to blend the different groups we have at the club and I do feel there is a sense of belonging for everyone,” Thomas said.
“If we didn’t have a strong team culture, you wouldn’t have the buy-in and accountability we do have. I think it has been an important step in us playing with more consistency and building more belief as a team.”
The Kents have their own mix of Australian and Papua New Guinean heritage to know how important this theme is.
“We now have Fijian words for some of our plays,” Thomas said.
“After a game, we will sing a team song written by uni boys back in the day plus a Fijian hymn we have added.
“The club has been around a long time so we honour traditions and have added a few new ones.”
A little schoolteacher discipline from the Kent brothers hasn’t hurt either in the running of things.
“Like a lot of stories in country rugby, Christopher (Marist College Ashgrove) and I (St Peters Lutheran College) enjoyed our school footy and all we learned through it. We are passing on a bit at Gatton,” Thomas said.
In the grand final side, pacy try-scoring winger Salitoni Nakubu and lock Penieli Tokaduadua will be two of five Fijian meatworkers in the grand final squad.
Hooker Hahns Spierling is a local Gatton boy. He made a comeback this season and his experience and excellent lineout throwing have made a big difference.
Backrower Duncan Beattie will skipper the side. The vet student is a tireless worker with a big engine.
Here’s an upbeat story from Townsville where the Ingham Cutters have won their first junior premierships.
Junior boys and girls rugby teams were only formed six years ago so the success was a thrill for stalwarts like Cutters President Peter Bishop.
Last week, the combined Ingham-Western Dragons Under-13 boys beat North Ward Sandcrabs. The U17 girls scored an upset win over Townsville Brothers.
Townsville Bulletin reporter Cameron Bates wrote that the success was a wonderful moment considering the “improbable” move of launching two girls’ teams and a mixed U12s in the rugby league heartland in 2019.
