Happy hooker's 100th
Leading the Wakatipu Prems rugby side on to the field for his 100th game, there was no one prouder at the Queenstown Rec Ground last Saturday than hooker Phil Kingsbury.
It was made more special when his side then beat Alexandra to qualify for this Saturday's final against Upper Clutha.
"Semifinal I reckon is sometimes the hardest — statistically we normally bail out at the semifinal, so it'll be good to go back over to Wanaka and have another crack at them."
After studying architecture in Wellington, before later setting up his own building company, Wyndham-raised Kingsbury came to Queenstown in 2016.
After playing that year for the Wanderers, he joined the title-winning Prems the following season.
Nicknamed 'Sweet Chilli', he says playing rugby makes up just a third of what he likes about the game.
"I enjoy the camaraderie and I enjoy the fitness.
"There's something about the camaraderie — anyone can drink in the clubrooms but only a select few can drink in the changing rooms, and you build a bond down there and it's something special."
As for a playing highlight, Kingsbury singles out taking the White Horse Cup off Upper Clutha in Wanaka last year.
He turns 40 late this year, after teammates Paulie Tuala and injured Josh Aperahama-Paenganui also bring up that milestone.
"I give them beans that they are as old as the hills and need to give up."
As for his own future, Kingsbury — who didn't even play when he was 23 till 29 — says "my wife maybe has other ideas, but I always said I'd like to play as long as I could until they politely ask me to leave".
But he admits he might be tempted to pull the pin if Waka pick up the Central Otago title this Saturday, after which he'd happily play for the Wanderers again.
And if he did step aside, he says the Prems would still be in good stead as young Thomas Hulsman is "absolutely fantastic".
"Like I said in my speech the other night, I realise I'm the ghost of Wakatipu past, but if all I'm there to do is 20 minutes at the end, I'm happy."
Wakatipu no.8 Anton Huisman about to dot down in last Saturday's semifinal win at the Queenstown Rec Ground.
Heading to Wanaka for this Saturday's final against Upper Clutha, Wakatipu coach Jordan Manihera's delighted with the position his team's in, despite losing to them both times this season — including a 17-6 loss over there just two weekends ago.
"We're actually in the most perfect position we can be.
"I'm really excited for us as a squad to go in as the underdogs this week, because the last time we went over to Wanaka as underdogs, we took the White Horse Cup off them.
"So I think our mindset is we've got nothing to lose and everything to gain."
Manihera says despite that recent loss, "there were still some good nuggets in defence and some attack play but we just couldn't finish off opportunities we created for ourselves".
He adds he was happy with last Saturday's 26-7 semifinal win over Alexandra, and says despite being 7-6 down at halftime "that's probably the first time we've actually started really well as well".
Meanwhile, the Wakatipu Wanderers also play a final this Saturday in the Southland division 3 comp, against Pirates Old Boys, after winning their semifinal against Waiau Star 26-23 in Tuatapere last weekend.
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