Wanganui edged out in thrilling final - October 2015

BEST AND FAIREST: The Wanganui Under-16s with their trophy for best sportsmanship at the Hurricanes tournament in Levin.

AG Challenge Wanganui Under-16 went toe-to-toe with the favourites of the Hurricanes B competition and went down swinging in a 27-24 thriller with Wellington Development in the final at Levin's Playford Park yesterday morning.

After a stirring prematch haka, of which the video is currently doing the rounds on social media, Wanganui trailed 15-14 at halftime, with the teams then doing tit-for-tat scoring and making every opportunity count - Wellington barely holding the ascendancy 22-19 and then the final scoreline.

Wanganui's Shaiden Daniels scored two tries, while Cody Edwards and loose forward CJ Church (WHS) got the others, Church adding two conversions.

Daniels finished with six tries from three games.

"They tackled, and the passion and desire to play for each other," said Matt Boult, father of centre Adam Boult.

"They really stood up and played their guts out."

Adam Boult set up two tries and was a standout, along with Church and halfback Griffen Culver (WHS) - who did a lot of covering work and was the sole member of the squad named in the tournament team.

The efforts of this Wanganui U16 unit must be recognised considering previous incarnations have at times suffered heavy defeats at this tournament, whereas the John Church-coached side comfortably won their pool matches and went so close against the bigger Wellington side, selected from a catchment of players which cannot even be compared in terms of size.

Wanganui were awarded the trophy for Outstanding Team Culture and Fairplay, which was chosen from all 12 teams in the Hurricanes A and B tournaments.

As well as Griffen, others may well be named in two weeks for the Hurricanes Development camp.