News

Big 1^st XV game this Saturday
This Saturday sees 1st XV Boys Pukekohe High School VS Wesley College with the winner advancing as the Counties Manukau Representative to playoff in the 1st XV Boys Chiefs Barbarians Top 4 playoffs.
Keep your eyes peeled for Pukekohe High in-form athletes Liam Dowdall (Centre), Jayden Flanagan (Fullback) and Ezekiel Hotai (2nd-Five) who will match up against Wesley College’s Apai Ma’u Hinkes (Prop), Christian Paea (Centre) and Joey Taumateine (# 8).
Kick-off is set for 12pm on the Wesley College #1.

Celebrations in Manurewa
Manurewa celebrated their first McNamara Cup in 24 years in style over the weekend, but my spies tell us the celebrations lasted well into this week.
Jeremy Clark’s side produced a stellar performance to win the final and then went on to party just as well. A few boys were missing from work in the first half of the week!

Secondary Schools camp well received
60 student athletes across local secondary schools took part in the recent Counties Manukau Under 18 boys Emerging Rugby camp at Pukekohe High School over two days starting off these school holidays.
The camp covered a range of indoor and outdoor activities, which developed and tested them individually across personal leadership, the Union’s ‘Pride in the Hoops’ and the Chiefs 4 Cornerstones.
The camp was led by Head of High Performance Chad Shepherd and Teenage Lead Shaun Atamu and was supported by the Community rugby team of John Hall, Liam Daniela and Siaosi Lealiifano as well as Steelers coaches Reon Graham and Richie Harris who were on hand to take a session alongside Community Coach Development Officer Paul Wheeler.

First game action for PIC Steelers
The PIC Steelers get their first hit-out of 2022 when they play in the Chiefs Cup at Te Awamutu on Saturday.
Reon Graham’s side faces Waikato at 11am and will then meet either Bay of Plenty or Taranaki depending on the first result (BOP plays Taranaki with the two winning teams meeting and the two losing sides facing off).
Both games are 50 minutes in duration.

Recognition for local age group players
Local players Brock Wheatley, Lenzs Morunga and Mason Hammond have made the upcoming New Zealand Maori National Under 18 boys development camp while Taine Hira and Jack Henry were selected for the New Zealand Central North Island Area Schools Rugby team and camp these school holidays.

U85s holding open training runs
The Counties Manukau U85s team are running open trainings for prospective Counties Manukau rep team players.
The trainings are open to all at Colin Lawrie Fields in Pukekohe from 6pm on Tuesday.