A quiet start to the day except for the physio team who continued to treat the players still carrying knocks from Saturdays match. The main training session of the day took place once again at Narrowneck. By this time and due to the injury situation the starting squad had more or less selected itself. Returning to the starting line-up will be Wilson Tulakepa and Tim Vodonaivalu as well as Jim Barnes who will go into the pack at second row with Mark Robinson starting at hooker. Another problem for the whole squad has been the arrival of a cold virus within the squad, whilst not a desperate case of man flu at least half the squad are suffering in some way. After training it was back to HQ for the evening meal and final individual preps for tomorrow’s big challenge in the shape of the RNNZ Navy side.

Day 10 Wednesday 21st July

Dawn of our final match day saw the squad move into the by now well practised routine for game day. A final walk and talk was preceded by a photo session involving full squad shots as well as individual and group shots all can be found in the Tour photo ‘album’. A final Stone Oven Café squad visit to round off the walk before returning back to HQ for shirt issue. Despite losing a couple of players to injuries from the Aussie match there was welcome return for skipper Jim Barnes, Wilson Tulakepa and Tim Vodonaivalu. The intense nature of the tours match schedule had put a lot of pressure on the players however with the continuous running repairs carried out by Joyce and Ruby RNRL were able to not only fulfil all our fixtures but put out a strong competitive team to take on the Kiwis. The planned curtain raiser between the RNZN Invitational XIII and the RAN was called off at the request of the Aussies citing too many injuries which did not appear to have affected their voices as they turned to their favourite pastime of sledging, needless to say the Brothers were on the receiving end of it.

Match 3 RNZN 24:10 RNRL
The weather for the match was the worst to date, although the mornings heavy rain had eased off the first half was played in almost constant drizzle powered by a fresh breeze. Credit must go to both sides for the ball skills as there were relatively few handling errors despite the weather. As always before any match featuring the Kiwi’s a challenge was thrown down to the opponents in the form of the Haka. The game started brightly for the Brothers with an early opportunity for Aaron Hunt to post the first points of the game, chasing down Botwoods grubber he touched the ball down however the try was disallowed as Hunt was adjudged to have been offside. The match was flowing well from end to with neither side making the crucial score until the 15th minute. The Kiwi full back had backed up his forwards well and with the ball evaded the RN defence to cross to the left of the posts, with the conversion by Damien Shelford the Brothers were down by 6. The game unfortunately was falling into a similar pattern to the previous Brothers match, with significant penalties and a lot of play in midfield the RN side were just not making significant headway against the Kiwi’s. After saying that the Brothers goal line defence was working well despite having to repel repeat sets on several occasions throughout the half. The pressure finally told however and on the 25 minute mark the Kiwi Open side prop Daniel Mio crossed for the home side’s second try, Shelford taking the extras 12:0. The last few minutes of the half gave the RN a glimmer of hope as they began to make some inroads into the Kiwi defence but with no success as far as points on the board were concerned. This recovery was dashed on the stroke of half time when the Kiwi No 11 crossed close to the posts for his side’s third try, with the conversion made the ref called the half time break and the brothers were 18:0 down. Head Coach Wayne Okells half time team talk inspired his team for the second half drawing on the old cliché ‘a game of two halves’ the Brothers were a different side altogether pinning the Kiwis in their own half for long periods. Finally after 20 minutes and a lot of sustained RN pressure Prop Lee Rossiter forced his way over to the left of the posts to finally get the Brothers on the scoreboard. Despite the kick being missed the next passage of play from the kick off led to the Brothers scoring their second try of the match. Sili Buinimasi gathered the ball passed inside to Tulakepa who then set Mike Haldenby off on a 30 metre sprint across to the wing where once again Aaron Hunt took the ball on leaving the Kiwi defence standing, the cover did get across to him but a perfectly weighted pass inside found Tommy Wilkinson following up and he took the ball the last 20 metres or so to touchdown behind the posts, this time Kev Botwood made the conversion so the deficit was now just 8 points. As the game moved into the closing stages the RN pressed for more points against a rapidly tiring New Zealand side, this time though it was not to be and the Kiwi’ in one of their few second half attacks crossed out on the left for their fourth try effectively sealing the win for the home nation.
A much improved performance in the second half was not enough to prevent the defeat but Wayne Okell congratulated his squad for their efforts throughout this journey pointing out to all that as a development side with an average age of just 22 there is a lot more to come from these players especially with the Inter Services Series barely six weeks away. Mark Robinson was awarded RN Man Of The Match by the Kiwi’s, just reward for his efforts throughout the match gaining valuable metres at every carry against some big units in the Kiwi defence as well as distributing the ball well from dummy half.
RN; Adam McCrohan, Wilson Tulakepa, Silivenusi Buinimasi, Mike Haldenby, Aaron Hunt, Ade Peel, Kev Botwood, Lee Rossiter, Mark Robinson, Ritchie Metcalfe, Jim Barnes, Dave Gee, Ben Taylor,
Bench- Johnny Platt, Wata Robanakadavu, Tommy Wilkinson, Tim Vodonaivalu
After the match the teams sat down to an end of series dinner once again hosted by the New Zealand Navy. Various awards were presented throughout the formalities including the announcing of series 'Dream Team' selected by the coaches based on individual player’s performances throughout the series. Aussie coach Dave Kemp read out the list of names which included four of the Brothers Jim Barnes, Aaron Hunt and from the pack Mark Robinson and Ritchie Metcalfe. The closing speeches followed a buffet meal with a fantastic variety of food with green lip mussels sat alongside individual shepherds pies which in turn were alongside portions of fish and chips wrapped up in the Auckland daily newspaper! Each of the respective team officials congratulated the players from all sides for their efforts as well as the Competition organising Committee in Philomel for ensuring this inaugural Tri-Nations Series ran as smoothly as could be expected.
Day 11Thursday 22nd July

The final two days of the tour are designated as free days for the tour party to enable as much of the local area as possible can be explored in the remaining time in the country. The first groups left around 1030 with a brave bunch setting off to complete a Bungee jump from the Auckland Harbour Bridge. A second group set of to head North to visit a complex of hot springs which as well as being very enjoyable will also help ease some of the aches and pains the players have picked up over the last eight days. We also said goodbye to two players who begin their leave today heading for home in Fiji. Wata Robonakavadu goes to his home town for the first time n two years whilst Sili Buinimasi heads for home and his wedding, good luck for the future to 'B' and his new wife from the Brothers.
Day 12 Friday 23rd July

The last full day in Auckland gave the squad more time to explore the city and its surroundings. The first group set off with our hosts Lt Cdr Roger Saynor and ‘Aussie’ Mal Badham for a day’s sailing around the harbour including passing west under the famous Auckland Harbour Bridge. The weather once again closed in on the city with heavy rain beginning around midday and carrying on throughout the afternoon. Whilst no god for final retail therapy it was ideal weather for a visit t the magnificent City Museum. The museum is famous for its ground floor collection of Maori and South Pacific Island artefacts. These artefacts range from the tiniest fishbone fishing hook right up to a canoe capable of carrying over 200 people. The first floor contained collection of stuffed native fauna which was not vastly interesting however the second floor contains the stories and artefacts of the New Zealand armed forces involvement in world conflicts from the Boer war right u to the present campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan. The final chance to take in an NRL Weekly Round fixture was taken up courtesy of the Sin Bin Bar in Tukapena where over a dozen of the tour party watched a thriller between Gold Coast Titans and St George Illawarra. The match was won by the Titans on a golden point drop goal in the second period of overtime, perhaps more relevant to the Brothers was that the match was played at the Jubilee Oval in Kograh overlooking Botany Bay which is where the first RNRL Touring side played the second match of the 2002 tour to Australia.
Day 12 Saturday 24th July

The bulk of the remaining tour party began the long trip home leaving Philomel at 0930; things looked pretty good until we boarded the plane whereupon the pilot calmly announced that due to a lightning strike earlier there would be a delay whilst the Engineers checked for any damage. Despite his best efforts to reassure the more nervy members of the group our tame RAF bod Mickey the Ref comments that ‘this happens all the time’ did not go down too well. The rest of the flight went ok despite the best efforts of the Air Traffic control in China and we touched down finally at 0640 on Sunday morning in UK. Despite the results not going our way the tour was a great success and sets the squad up well for the Inter Services series in straight after leave in September.