
The Hawkes Bay Heat were the winners of the Wellington Tournament held in March where they held off a strong challenge by the Nelson Honey Badgers.
The Heat went into the Tournament as the favourites but were upset a new team the Palmerston North Touchdown in the first game. The score was 21 to 7.
After the round robin the standings were:
Touchdown - 6 points
Heat - 4 Points
Hamilton Phoenix - 2 points
Turangi Misfits - 0 points
After the semi finals the two team that emerged on top were the Touchdown, with a win over the Misfits, and the Heat with a win over the Phoenix.
That set up a repeat of the first game of the day with the Heat looking to reverse the morning result.
Unfortunately that didn't happen with the result being almost the same as the morning 21- 6.
So the 2019 Hawkes Bay Flag Tournament winners were the Palmerston North Touchdown (sometimes calling themselves the "Touchdown Kings").
A big thanks goes to the two referees for the day from Auckland Gavin Graham and Stu Macferson.
They did every game for the day and added to a great atmosphere.
Also a big thanks o John Norris from Engage Video Creations. They streamed the whole days play and added the extra bits with replays and the refs commentary. That was a great addition and allowed the audience to be much larger that just the locals.