Canterbury Bulls v Wai-Coa-Bay in national final

MEDIA RELEASE

October 17, 2014

NZRL Media Release - Canterbury Bulls v Wai-Coa-Bay in national final

After the dust has settled, Wai-Coa-Bay Stallions have emerged as opponents for Canterbury Bulls in tomorrow night's Pirtek NZRL National Premiership final.

The Waikato/Bay of Plenty/Coastline team finished fourth in the competition regular season with a three-win, three-loss record, and completed their schedule three weeks ago with victory over Central Vipers.

At the time, they probably had no inkling that would be good enough to contest the final at Mt Smart Stadium.

Their elevation came after several days of protests and appeals over the eligibility of players in the Akarana Falcons and Counties Manukau Stingrays teams, the two top teams at the end of the regular season.

It became clear that players from both sides did not meet the eligibility criteria and once competition points were docked accodingly, the Stallions became the next cab off the rank.

At the heart of the problem for the Auckland-based teams was a change in status of the Vodafone Warriors reserves team over last summer.

Previously, the Vulcans had been an Auckland representative side and their games counted towards player eligibility.

But this past season, the team transferred to Warriors ownership, those players were registered through New South Wales Rugby League and their appearances did not count towards eligibility.

Neither team were aware of the oversight until the latter stages of the regular season.

When they met in August, Canterbury defeated Wai-Coa-Bay 38-20 at Huntly.

Tomorrow night's game will be curtainraiser to the NZ Junior Kiwis v Junior Kangaroos (7pm).

PIRTEK NZRL NATIONAL PREMIERSHIP FINAL

Saturday, October 17

Mt Smart Stadium, Auckland, 5pm

Canterbury Bulls v Wai-Coa-Bay Stallions

Bulls: 1-Ken Tofilau, 2-Vinnie Paul, 3-Erwin Sauni, 4-Bruce Havea, 5-Cyrus Timo-Latu, 6-Toi Sepuloni, 7-Izic Placid, 8-JJ Smith,9-Manu Weepu, 10-Chris Bamford, 11-James Baxendale, 12-Corey Lawrie, 13-Agaese Fiso, 14-Alani Kakoi, 15-Dan Moevao, 16-Kyle Leka, 17-Paradise Mann, 18-Paul Sauni

Stallions: 1-Caleb Heke, 2-Isaac Robinson, 3-John Koko, 4-Isaiah Cooper-Tetevano, 5-Mounga Molisi, 6-Johnson Peri, 7-Hayden Karena, 8-Hone Love-Henry, 9-Raureti Grace, 10-Lionel Skipwith, 11-Marrin Haggie, 12-Mosese Mafi, 13-Terry Kopua, 14-Daley Rata-Makene, 15-Riki Collier, 16-Shaquille Jakeman, 17-Tupara Tupara, 18-Jason Whareaitu

Referee - Jamal Thompson Touch - Chris McMillan & Tony Arnel

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