By Tom McCrae
An Auckland rugby league team has been kicked out of the Fox Memorial competition playoffs, after being accused of throwing the last match of the regular season.
The Point Chevalier Pirates lost by more than 100 points, giving them a more preferable draw for the finals.
“Let’s be honest - there's only one reason why they did that and that's because they think we'd lie down easier than Papakura, that's why they did it, they laid down deliberately,” says Marist coach Anthony Lipscombe.
Point Chevalier fielded a completely new team from the rest of the season, they lost 102-0 and the result forced Papakura out of the semi-finals.
“Based on the fact they've not beaten us on the two occasions that we've met, and in fact we've beaten them emphatically and quite simply they didn't want to meet us in the final,” says Papakura Rugby League Club director Darren Brady.
Papakura management says it had no choice but to officially complain, and the Auckland Rugby League panel ruled that Point Chevalier didn't field their best team at Walker Park on Saturday and therefore deliberately influenced the outcome of the competition - and kicked them out of the playoffs.
“Nowhere in the constitution does it state that and that's the ruling we have to live with, if we made any mistake it's probably not knowing their interpretation of the rules - at the time we played the best team available, people will say otherwise,” says Point Chevalier coach Grant Pocklington.
Pocklington says he was just looking after the best interests of his top players by resting them.
“We're not saying to clubs that you can't stand down players and you can't give them a rest when you want to, but it's really been the magnitude of what they've done,” says Cameron McGregor of Auckland Rugby League.
Point Chevalier are still deciding whether or not to appeal, but either way those going head-to-head with them say the club's reputation is already tarnished.
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