News

Opening day for all
All competition grades are set to begin on April 23 this year after Monday night’s Council of Delegates meeting.
It was decided that all grades would begin at the same time and competitions will fit the appropriate windows.

Changes to CODs exec
There has been some change to the Council of Delegates executive heading into the new season.
At this week’s CODs meeting Chris Brown (Manurewa) and Danny Hodgson (Patumahoe) have joined chair Andy Baker, deputy chair Glenn Flavell and head of community rugby Scott Penney.
Onewhero’s Trevor Strang and Brad Watson from Maramarua have stood down from their roles and should be congratulated on their service, particularly through some difficult COVID-interrupted seasons.

Leadership course for Siaosi
Ethnic Community Rugby Champion Siaosi Lealiifano last week attended the three-day E Tu Rangatira Camp 2022 in Rotorua.
The camp was designed to create leaders within Maori rugby and to help guide and support our Rangatahi.
There was a strong Counties Manukau contingent with Counties Maori treasurer Letticia Jones, Papakura High School principal Simon Craggs and three teachers also in attendance.

Puni roof project underway
The project to re-roof and tidy up the Puni Rugby Club started over the weekend with good progress made.
Any additional help would be greatly assisted however, with COVID forcing a number of would-be assistants to isolate.
Contact Annette Tossell (annette.tossell@steelers.co.nz) to find out more.

Numbers game
A number of clubs are currently assessing their numbers ahead of confirming entries in this year’s competitions.
My spies tell me some clubs are battling for numbers but in an encouraging sign there are some clubs thinking of adding additional teams due to strong numbers.

Eligibility changes to deal with COVID
Clubs have decided to make some changes to finals eligibility rules this season to reflect the shorter season and risks posed by COVID isolation rules.
The new rules will make life a lot easier for clubs and will relax some of the eligibility rules from previous seasons to allow more flexibility in what is clearly going to be another challenging season.