Ohoka Club Day highlighted by new Tri Rugby team

Off the back of the successful High School Old Boys’ Tri Rugby side, Ohoka is beginning to offer a new home for all abilities rugby in Canterbury.

Aimed at providing more competition for the burgeoning all abilities playing group, it is also hoped that by having another side available in North Canterbury that more people can give Tri Rugby a go, giving opportunities to those that may not have been able to play rugby in the past.

“My son Owen and I were with the High School Old Boys’ Tri Rugby team for two seasons,” said North Canterbury Tri Rugby organiser Matt Henry, “and the Pete, Lynda and Livo (organisers of HSOB Tri Rugby) were looking at expanding it out to other clubs to create Tri Rugby programmes. I live out in Swannanoa, so it provided a great opportunity to create another club out in North Canterbury, and with the support of Ohoka Rugby Club, we were able to set something up at the end of last year.”

“We had an initial four players practicing on a Sunday, had about a month introduction before our first game as part of the Southbridge Shield. This season, we’ve moved our practice to be just before the Div 1 team’s practice on a Thursday, allowing us to utilise the Div 1 players as enablers, which has been ideal as it’s such an important part of Tri Rugby.” Henry said.

Last weekend, the group had their second game of the season as a part of Ohoka’s Club Day, with HSOB and Ohoka joining forces to provide an important experience for all players involved.

“We mixed all of the players up and had a game at Ohoka, a curtain raiser for the Div 1 team, who came along to show their support for the players. They also got a meal and a after match afterwards which was a really cool and unique experience for them.”

The team will now continue to build till their next game on HSOB’s Club Day on the 10th of June.

“We’re always on the lookout for new players and people to give it a go. These players have as much passion, if not more, than other players, so to provide opportunities for them to experience rugby is really exciting and we can’t wait for more.”

If you know of someone who would love to give Tri Rugby a go, contact Matt at trirugbynthcanterbury@gmail.com