Short Passes – 21 March

Club Rugby in Wellington starts this coming Saturday. The draw is HERE

Above: The Tawa and Marist St Pat’s teams observe a moment’s silence remembering the victims of the Christchurch shooting that took place some 24 hours earlier. PHOTO: Barry Stead.

Terrible events in Christchurch last Friday. Watch the tribute by the Avalon Wolves below: 

The referee’s squad in Wellington is settled this year.

Appointments for the first round set of matches are below

Ben van Berkel takes the pea for his first Premier game, while the three amigos, Richard Gordon, Nick Hogan and Vincent Ringrose, along with Monique Dalley are all at National Squad Camp in Auckland.

Swindale Shield:

MSP v Poneke – Dan Mangin; Norths v Johnsonville – Ben van Berkel; Pare-Plim v Ories – Jamie Fairmaid; Avalon v Wellington – Ryan McLean; Tawa v Petone – Colin Te Pohe; UHR v OBU – Jack Sargentina; Wainuiomata v HOBM – Jordan Price

Harper Lock Shield:

MSP v Poneke – John Ballingall; Norths v Jville – Matt Thomas; Pare-Plim v Ories – Scott Marriner; Avalon v Wellington – Andrew Lawler; Tawa v Petone – Scott MacLean; UHR v OBU – Ethan Loveridge;  Wainuiomata v HOBM – Marius du Toit

Oriental-Rongotai and Hurricanes centre Matt Proctor retained a decade-long athletics record by virtue of the swirling wind at Newtown Park last Thursday. Proctor has held the Wellington Regional Athletics Senior Boys 110m hurdles record since 2009, running for St Pat’s Town. Scots College’s Roderick Solo  (also a first XV rugby player) broke the record in winning the title on Thursday – but there was a 3.4s tailwind that was too much for the record to be counted. The wind gauge is halfway down the track, but the nature of Newtown Park and the wind swirling wind around the stand means the second half of the finishing straight can see the tailwind drop away or even turn into a slight headwind. So Solo, who also won the Senior Boys Long Jump and triple jump can count himself unlucky.

The Havelock North Rugby Club is celebrating 125 years this year. They invite all past players and supporters to join them:

Round one of Hawke’s Bay rugby in the books, including this result here:

View the first round Nash Cup results at http://www.clubrugby.co.nz/hawkesbay/games-results.php?competition=17&season=15&round=1

Wishing Moncia Tagoai a smooth recovery:

Japan’s Sunwolves team are set to be axed from Super Rugby, a report said on Wednesday, as the governing body prepared to make an announcement about the competition’s future. The report comes out on Friday. Read More HERE

The Hurricanes named an all-time XV from the 1990s this week. The team was named after more than 50,000 votes were received so is a democratic selection and can’t be argued with. A couple of names missing however, such as Jon Preston who scored 300 points in 25 games for the Hurricanes 1996-98. He would be halfback, vice-captain (Bull Allen captain) and back-up goal-kicker in our team. Similarly, Dog Howlett, great player that we was to become only played a handful of games for the Hurricanes before moving to the Blues and in one match scoring four tries for them against the Hurricanes.

1 Mark Allen

2 Norm Hewitt

3 Gordon Slater

4 Mark Cooksley

5 Dion Waller

6 Andrew Blowers

7 Kupu Vanisi

8 Filo Tiatia

9 Ofisa Tonu’u

10 David Holwell

11 Tana Umaga

12 Jason O’Halloran

13 Alama Ieremia

14 Doug Howlett

15 Christian Cullen

Les Mills is offering STUDENTS a 4-day pass to access the facilities at their Taranaki Street or Lambton Quay club. To activate your pass email Paul.Jennings@lesmills.co.nz with the following details:

Full Name:
Contact Number:
Email Address:
Club closest to you:

The WRFU are doing a series of profiles with many of the young up and coming players at the moment, such as one today with Naitoa Ah Kuoi – look out for this on WRFU channels. 

Story on College Sport Media with Milly Mackey, one of two schoolgirls in the WRFU High Performance Academy. Click HERE for more