News

Heat stars help Chiefs to victory
Congratulations to the Counties Energy Heat players that helped the Chiefs women to victory in the inaugural Super Rugby Aupiki competition – beating the Blues in a thrilling final.
Hazel Tubic, Arihiana Marino Tauhinu, Harono Te Iringa, Langi Veainu and Ruby Tui as well video analyst Leaha Dickey all represented the Chiefs this season and played a role in their victory.
Shyanne Thompson was with the Blues.
Three of the five tries in the match were scored by Counties Energy Heat players.

Club players get chance to impress PIC Steelers coaches
A total of 65 players were involved in the first night of high-performance training with the Counties Manukau Rugby High Performance group this week.
The mix of Academy players, contracted PIC Steelers and nominated club hopefuls will take part in a four-week block, working with the PIC Steelers coaching group at Navigation Homes Stadium.
Roughly another 20 players were unavailable due to injury or COVID isolation, meaning a huge chunk of the club scene is getting a taste of representative rugby with an eye to selection in the PIC Steelers, Counties Manukau Bs or U19s this year.

Former Steeler, Pukekohe player passes away
Blair Williams, who played for the Pukekohe Rugby Club during the 1990s, sadly passed away over the weekend.
Pukekohe Rugby Club confirmed the sad news via their Facebook with a post on Monday, saying that Williams passed away due to a cardiac arrest.
A midfield back or fullback, Williams had the distinction of being part of a father-son combination that represented both Pukekohe and Counties Manukau. Blair’s father Sonny passed away in 2020.
The Union offers its condolences to the Williams family at this sad time.

Perfect farewell for Vidiri
It has been a rough time for Pukekohe and Counties Manukau Rugby but both organisations helped farewell the legendary Joeli Vidiri in a fitting manner last Friday.
The event ran smoothly and the weather played its part as we heard tales about Vidiri’s exploits on and off the field.
A big shout out too to Pukekohe president John Hume, who did an outstanding job MC’ing the funeral.

Head of Commercial starts
Andy Philips has started in the role of Head of Commercial with CMRFU. Andy comes to us from the UK and has plenty of experience in the commercial and sporting world.
His appointment frees Scott Penney up to focus solely on the local game in his role of Head of Community.

Pre-season in full swing
Most clubs were involved in pre-season fixtures over the weekend.
Bombay, Onewhero and Waiuku played in a game of three halves concept while Manurewa took on Patumahoe and Karaka and Pukekohe did battle.

Weymouth hard at it
There appears to be strong playing numbers at Weymouth with the Premier side working hard this pre-season.
We’ve obtained several photos showing the playing group putting in the mahi ahead of the new season.
With the clubroom upgrades the club is poised for a bumper season.