That’s a wrap on Rep!
Representative rugby season has come to a close and boy, what a season it was! Let’s take a look at some of the highlights…
The sidelines were humming with supporters across all three South Island Underage tournaments hosted in Canterbury, and two senior games played as double headers for Bunnings Warehouse NPC matches - what an incredible year for representative rugby in Canterbury. “It has been a real privilege to stage these events for so many players to perform at a higher level and providing them opportunities to develop their rugby skills ” said Michael Sheat, Canterbury Community Rugby Manager.
The U19 Boys began the string of Canterbury hosted tournaments, and your home side took out the competition with a 40-19 win over Otago. A few weeks later the U16 South Island Boys finals, hosted by Waihora Rugby Club, saw sixteen teams take to the fields and battle it out for the title. The final took place on the Saturday, with Otago Metro taking the spoils. Our five Canterbury based teams performed well throughout, ultimately though falling short of the Cup final, but no doubt better for the experience.
While the rugby community was still revelling in the high of an amazing three days of solid games, the attention turned to the U18 Girls. Playing the last of their round robin at Nga Puna Wai on Sunday, the finals then took place across the following two days. The pinnacle of the tournament came down to an intense battle between our very own Canterbury Black against Otago, with a score of 27-27 at the final whistle. The nail biting draw brought the decision down to a points differential tie break, and our Canterbury Black side were announced the winners!
Canterbury Pasifika entered the Tane Norton competition for the first time this year, and went head to head with Waitaha before the first NPC home game of the season; North Canterbury put a strong win over Ellesmere ahead of the NPC game in Rangiora allowing them to retain the Southbridge Shield for another year. The Cantabrians were the competition winners, leading the table by five points and lifted the Tane Norton trophy after a 59-28 win against Waitaha.
Our Canterbury B Men’s and Canterbury Women’s Development teams also performed admirably throughout their campaigns, relishing the opportunity to pull on the red and black jersey.
“So many FPC and NPC Canterbury players have gone through these tournaments” said Sheat, “they provide opportunities for young players to showcase their skills and represent their province or sub union. They are the breeding ground for the next greats of Canterbury Rugby”.
Sheat also noted the efforts from our team here at Canterbury Rugby as a highlight, “There is a lot that goes into staging these events and I am really proud of the entire Community Rugby team for the work they have done throughout this period”.
Canterbury Rugby would like to thank every player, coach, referee and administrator it took to get these games out in the community.
words by Hannah Yates