Highs and Lows 2008

Maniototo is like many country rugby clubs throughout New Zealand, isolated. A limited player base and with its existence relying heavily on hard work of a team  of volunteers, Player Coach Ryan Dowling believes those factors are a help rather than a hindrance. We're an old type of club. based around a farming-type community. which is always a help. Its easier to get a couple of hours off work when you're a farmer to help out at the club. We've got plenty of thirty year olds playing and we're probably one of the rare clubs like that now. The after matches are quite family orientated. Its disapointing we can't get those 18 to 20 year olds but that seems to  be a problem over the province. One thing we have in our favour is its playing roster, which includes the Hore brothers. All Black hooker Andy and Canterbury rep Charlie and Otago loosie Matt O'Connell.    The Hores in particular have been fiercely loyal to the Maniototo Club.  Its massive for us to have these Guys and no doubt that has helped our numbers watching games. We get big crowds.  We're in a country situation where player numbers change from year to year. A lot of its based on farm workers. Some years you've got them and some years you haven't. We've been lucky that we've had a strong team. Winning is always a great factor. It's the same whether its at club level or provincial level.

Duncan Smith (captain) Lochie McNally. Simon Paterson. Ryan Dowling. Logan Dowling. Vaughan Dowling. Paul Dougherty, Sean Becker. James Becker. Craig Paterson. Scotty Watson. Charles Crutchley. Mark Naylor. James Peddie. Matt Weir. Clayton Rowlands. Gavin Dowling. Steve Lithgow. Mark O'Neill. Paul McAtamney. Tony Kearney. James Pyle. Gerard Weir. Warren Dobson.