ROSEMARY ABBOTT | Sport
“HOW FAR AWAY ARE YOU MATE?”
Tim Coles, 27, has never been good with time management.
The Old Boys University club rugby player from Wellington has notoriously arrived late to his team’s rugby matches for the last four seasons. Frustrating coaches and players who have to put up with an anxious wait prior to their team’s kick off each week.
Our reporters were with Tim’s teammates ahead of their game.
“I seem to spend more time texting Tim and asking how far away he is than I do coaching the team leading into kick off” said disgruntled coach Ted Barnes.
“We are sort of reluctantly having to get used to it. 95% of the team turn up when they’re meant to. But with Tim he’s always running late and I actually have no idea why. Most weeks he has me thinking I’ve told him the wrong time. But no, he just shows up, which is always just relief. There’s no time to give him a grilling.”
Dan, the team’s prop and captain, echoed his coach’s frustrations. “It’s a nightmare every week with him. It throws the whole rhythm of the warm-up of each game. But he’s too good a player not to have him starting, so we annoyingly just have to learn to roll with it.”
“I have the other players asking me if he’s playing and I just go ‘well he’s meant to be, so I hope he is’. It doesn’t really put confidence in the other guys.”
Our reporters were attempting to speak with Tim himself, but he had not yet arrived at the ground.
More to come.
Big fan of the Whakataki? Head over to the support page and become a Whakataki backer. You can also follow us on Insta.
