Colchester players saw off popular Kiwi back rower Jeromey Vuletich, known to all as Pot Plant, who returned to New Zealand after two years at Colchester RFC. At a lunchtime gathering at a town centre pub Pot was presented with an England shirt, a World Cup 2003 winners T-shirt, a club pennant and framed pictures of him playing for Colchester.
Pot Plant went to school with captain Jay Duder and they both played for Dargaville Rugby Club. Pot gained international honours when he was called up to represent Croatia at seven-a-side. In 2002 he followed Jay over to the UK and he added a huge amount to Colchester RFC both on and off the field, but was a victim of the rule that allowed just two overseas players to represent the club in a league game. The First team's loss was the Ravens' gain and he helped them to lift the Essex 2nd XV Cup in 2003.
However Pot did play for the First XV nine times, twice as a replacement, and scored two tries. The first was against Stowmarket at the end of the 2002/03 season, but his most memorable moment was scoring an individual try against Mersea Island in January, that saw him take the ball from a line out 20 metres out and storm through the defence to touch down.
Everyone at Colchester wishes Pot Plant all the best for the future, and hope to see him back in the UK again. Meanwhile, there is an open invite for to visit him over in New Zealand.
But as one Kiwi left the club, another one joined. Fergus Rolston contacted Colchester RFC through the club's web site and he arrived at the weekend. The 6' 4" lock/back rower played for Christchurch High School Old Boys and represented Canterbury at U18 and U19. He spent the last few months playing in Argentina and is really looking forward to meeting the squad and starting training in the UK.
15/8/04
