Warringah Rats’ emotional return to the field after Lachlan Ward’s death
THE Warringah Rats beat the Penrith Emus on Saturday, but the score didn’t matter.
Manly
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THE Warringah Rats beat the Penrith Emus on Saturday, but the score didn’t matter.
Warringah’s opponents may not have won a game this season and they are destined to finish on the bottom of the ladder but no Rats side has displayed more character.
And it wasn’t the highest- quality spectacle seen at Rat Park. But it will be a special memory for everyone who was there as the Rats players returned to the field for the first time since the death of their clubmate Lachlan Ward a fortnight earlier.
Before the kick-off, Rats’ skipper Hamish Angus presented the Ward family with a No. 5 Warringah jumper, which was what Lachie Ward wore. The No. 5 jump will now be retired for the remainder of this season.
At fulltime the players from both sides formed a circle and the Penrith players sang the traditional Polynesian hymn I Know The Lord with their beautiful harmonies sending goosebumps through the crowd.
In the winners’ dressing room after the game the spirit among the playing group to perform as they did was clearly evident.
“Honestly, it was very emotional. I wasn’t sure all week how I would feel going out onto the field,” Warringah secondrower Jack Tomkins said.
“I was a little bit worried running out there that emotion might get the better of me and I might do something stupid — and I did do a couple of really stupid things early on and got penalised a couple of times.
“But once I settled into the grind I was starting to enjoy my footy and things started to come together.
“I felt happy and pretty safe with the rest of the boys.”
And Tomkins said that, with each game, things would get easier.
“The real drive now is to keep punching out each weekend,” he said.
“We aim to make the finals and win one for Lach.
“We wanted to do it before but now there is even more incentive to band together after this tragedy and really make something of ourselves.”
For the record, the final score was Warringah 56 Penrith 12.
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