July/August 2012 - Pakuranga United Rugby Club

SIDELINE NEWSLETTER JULY/AUGUST EDITIONTAIESE AND DICKISON REACH BLAZER GAMESTwo more players earned their Blazers at the end of the Premierseason. Big mobile prop Mausia Taiese and utility back Mark Dickisonboth reached this important milestone. To achieve a Blazer you mustplay 40 Premier games so this is a huge feat for these boys. Congratulationsto the boys on reaching this milestone and the Club ishoping we get to see them running out for the Premiers for manyyears to come!BELL PARK AND GROUND RENOVATIONSOne of the most talked about items at the Club is the current state of Bell Park and thetraining fields. Unfortunately for the Club the Council (who manages the ground) madesome bad decisions during the year which virtually wiped out the turf cover on theseareas.The Club has had several meeting with Council in a bid to return both Bell Park and the“Sand Pit” (well named this year) to top condition for 2013 season. At the conclusion ofthe current season Bell Park is to be closed until 2013 to allow a full recovery of the turf.While the “Sand Pit” will be reseeded and closed for the summer period. The Councilwill now work a lot closer with the Club to ensure the maintenance of Bell Park is ofoptimum standard so every grade in 2013 will have the chance of playing on it.Next year will see more fields at Pakuranga sand slit like Lloyd Elsmore Park 5 and 6.Lloyd Elsmore Park 2 and 3 are to be done at the conclusion of the touch seasonwhilst Lloyd Elsmore Park 1 will have stage one drain pipes installed. The Club isextremely grateful for the work being done by the Howick Local Board to make ourgrounds a lot more playable for us all to enjoy.Thank you all very much for keeping off our playing grounds when asked in 2012 andby carefully looking after the grounds we have managed to play rugby every Saturdaywith only one grade cancellation throughout the whole year.SENIOR AND JUNIOR PRIZEGIVINGSSENIOR PRIZEGIVINGDATE: FRIDAY, 21st SEPTEMBER 7PMVENUE: PAKURANGA CLUBROOMSTICKET COST: $25DRESS CODE: CLUB SHIRT/POLOS TO BE WORNNURSERY (U5s & U6s) PRIZEGIVINGDATE: FRIDAY 31st AUGUSTVENUE: PAKURANGA CLUBRROMSTIME: 6.15PMJUNIOR AND INTERMEDIATE PRIZEGIVINGDATE: 1st SEPTEMBERVENUE: PAKURANGA CLUBROOMSTIME: U7s-U10s 9.00AM AND U11s-U13s 11AMCOME DOWN AND CELEBRATE THE 2012 RUGBY SEASON

AUCKLAND REPRESENATIVIESSIDELINE NEWSLETTER JULY/AUGUST EDITIONPakuranga will be represented well in the upcoming Auckland Representative season with plenty of Pakuranga players runningout in the famous Blue and White hoops of Auckland. Added to this list in current Auckland Coaches Wayne Pivac (exPremier Coach) and Paul Feeney (current Premier Coach). While Premier Manager John East is Managing theAuckland Juniors and Premier Trainer Mike Speck will be the Auckland Juniors Trainer.We have four players in the Auckland ITM Cup Squad with Tom McCartney and Charles Piutau will be joined by MalakaiFekitoa and Tony Fenner who have made the Squad for the first time!! Congratulations to the boys on this achievement andto all our players who will be representing Auckland with pride this season!! GO THE RANGA!!!Auckland ITM Cup: Tom McCartney, Charles Piutau, Malakai Fekitoa and Tony Fenner.Auckland B: Aula SilipaAuckland Juniors: Namatahi Waa, David Adams and Elisi PuluAuckland 20s: Jordan Payne and Joseph EdwardsJUNIOR TOUCHThis year Pakuranga will be running a Junior Touch Module on a Wednesday night with the first round starting at 4.30pmand the games being two 15 minute halves. A referee must be provided with registration and numbered shirts are requiredby all teamsGRADES: Under 7, Under 9, Under 11, Under 13, Under 15 and Under 17COST: Under 7 - $250 per team (10 players) or $30 for individual registration. Under 9-Under 13 - $300 per team (10players) or $35 for individual registrationPakuranga Junior Touch is affiliated to the Counties Touch Association and we will look to put representative teams intotheir tournaments. The module will start on Wednesday 24 th October 2012 running until Wednesday 13 th February 2013with a break over the Christmas/New Year period. Contact Amanda or email rugbyadmin@purc.co.nz for more information

SIDELINE NEWSLETTER JULY/AUGUST EDITIONALL BLACK BOOTS FOR PAKURANGA JUNIORSSeven lucky Pakuranga Juniors received some special Adidas boots from the All Blacks at the East Tamaki Rugby Club! Theboots giveaway was organised by New Zealand Sevens legend and ex All Black Eric Rush. Pakuranga was joined by otherClubs from South Auckland and a few Clubs from Counties Manukau.The Pakuranga Juniors were super excited about meeting the All Blacks grabbing many autographs and plenty of photos! AllBlacks Conrad Smith, Piri Weepu, Adam Thompson, Ben Franks, Sam Cane, Julian Savea, Luke Romano and Tamati Ellisonwere truly awesome taking the time with each and every player. I’m sure the boots given out will be cherished very much!GET YOUR RANGA ON AT RANGA’S RUGBY LOCKER!!Hey make sure you check out the Club’s merchandise store “Ranga’s Rugby Locker”. The Club has a wide range ofsupporters gear to show your true colours in and at an affordable price!!Pakuranga Gear/School Bag $20 Pakuranga Scarf $35Pakuranga Mum and Dad Tees $15 Pakuranga Fleece $70Pakuranga Training Tee $40 Pakuranga Hooded Wet Weather Jacket $95Pakuranga Supporters Polos $45 Pakuranga Stadium Jacket $120Pakuranga Training Jacket $80 + name on back Pakuranga Training Jersey $70 + name & number on backPAKURANGA SENIOR TOUCHThe Senior Touch Module is beginning soon and the Club is now taking registrations online. A Team Nominated Referee isrequired for each team and your team will be required to referee between 2-4 games throughout the season. Uniforms arerequired for every team including numbers on the back of your shirts.START DATE: Tuesday 23rd October and Thursday 25th October TEAM FEES: $450GRADES AVALIABLE: Women’s, Men’s and MixedSo see the Club website www.purc.co.nz to register your team now!

RANGA’S RUGBY RAMBLESIDELINE NEWSLETTER JULY/AUGUST EDITIONHey Ranga here,What an awesome season of rugby it’s been for Pakuranga with Senior rugby almost overand only a few more weeks left of Junior rugby!For our Senior teams it’s been a historic season with the Premiers retaining the Jubilee Trophyand who can forget our young U21s side taking home the Auckland Championship! Thecrowd at the Gallaher Shield Quarter Final was truly “Rangatastic” With Club membersyoung and old down supporting the Premiers and even though the result wasn’t what wewanted it was still great to see the huge home crowd!! Best moment for me was followingthe U21s through the finals. This young team gave their fans a few nervous moments (a last minute win in the quarters anda 12 point comeback in the semis) however ultimately they were to strong for Marist in the final (on Eden Park) and cameout on top as Auckland U21s Champions! I managed to bound past the Eden Park security unlike those skateboarders andwatched the action from the sideline and I was even inthe team photo!Awesome to see with all the teams successes on the fieldhas seen ten Pakuranga players selected in AucklandRepresentative sides including four in the ITM Cu squad!!Plus Bell Park will be hosting plenty of Representativeaction from August through to October so if you can’t getto Eden Park come on down to the Club.Junior rugby has been sprinting along and even thoughthe rain has spoilt training times we have still managedto play Saturday morning rugby every weekend. I havebeen watching and have seen some massiveimprovements from all teams. With some sides really coming on and producing some convincing wins! Three of our Championshipteams made it all the way through to the Semi Finals. While the nursery grade still makes me smile every weekseeing our youngest players running around in the Club colours!Those All Blacks were rusty but got the “W” and if they can still beat the Aussie playing like that imaginewhen they shake off the rust!! The Rugby Championship is sure to throw up a few surprises withthose physical Springboks and unknown quality of the Argentineans. So keep watching! I know I’ll besetting my alarm (to the left) for the early games so can watch the All Blacks on the big screen in theClubrooms.Last thing the Club is starting Junior touch module onWednesday so make sure you go along to the Clubswebsite to register your team or individually as a player.Oh and prize giving's are coming soon so make sure youattend as you never know you could take home an award!Ranga,Pakuranga’s Resident OrangutanATTENTION CLUB MEMBERS….PAKURANGA NEEDS YOUR “LIKES” SO COME FIND US ON FACEBOOK!!WE HAVE PHOTOS, ARTICLES AND UP TO DATE CLUB INFORMATION POSTING EVERYDAY!!