Hi ,

Play Off Rugby can certainly be heart-breaking. And so it was at Nairnville Park last Saturday, when we played OBU. A day of indecisive weather, on a Field that certainly does not need too much moisture to render the surface slippery, to say the least. Our Boys came with a plan that for the most part looked pretty good, but then so did OBU. Considering the underfoot conditions, the Game was fast from the outset. The large Crowd had a lot to cheer about. The Tawa Premiers were never out of the Game, but a Winner had to be sought, and so it was that Tawa ended a superb run to the Play Off. Hats off to OBU and good luck this week against Paremata-Plimmerton.

Our Premier 2’s had a day off due to their continuous “top-of-the-table” form in this Competition. Our Colts had a big win over OBU Green and the U85’s had a good win over OBU Scallywags. 

Our Reserves were on a bit of a backlash against MSP.

An Breaking News item: I believe that the Tawa Ducks are playing Tukapa Bantams at Lyndhurst, 29 July at 1445hrs. Tukapa hails from New Plymouth and as well as being my Dad’s old Club, has a rich History of fine Players.

A few International Games over the weekend, starting with Japan vs New Zealand XV. Not a great Game, but a win. The Game I was waiting for, was Argentina vs All Blacks. The Pumas started with an incredible 20/30 seconds where they almost scored, and quite frankly that was their lot. Hardly a convincing Game by AB standards, but then it was our first Test – and we are notorious for “First Tests”. The Australia vs South Africa was a similar score. A SA Journo asked Eddie how it felt to be beaten by a SA “B” side, to which Eddie responded “smart arse”. Can’t wait to see how we go this Saturday against South Africa.

The Wellington Lions survived their first Shield Challenge on a Sunny day in Levin with a Crowd estimated to be around 3000 plus. A number of Tawa Prezzies were on site – probably to offer some words of wisdom to the young Guys if required. The score would indicate that the young Guys did not require too many words – this time at least. Horowhenua Kapiti put up some resistance, but the Lions were just too strong.

Last weekend saw the running of the NTI Townsville 500 Supercars round. Race 16 was won by Will Brown, 2^nd Brock Feeney (Chevrolet Camaros) and 3^rd Chaz Mostert (blue badge), with Shane van Gisbergen 4^th. Race 17 had a blue badge piloted by Anton De Pasquale in 1^st place, Brodie Kostecki 2^nd and Andre Heimgartner (Kiwi) 3^rd. SVG came in 5^th after starting the Race in 25^th spot. Of interest was that outside of 1^st place, the Chevys were in the next 6 spots. As a matter of interest, Brown leads the Drivers Championship by 7 points from Kostecki, his Team-Mate. Still a lot of Racing to be done.

The Wellington Lions survived their first Shield Challenge on a Sunny day in Levin with a Crowd estimated to be around 3000 plus. A number of Tawa Prezzies were on site – probably to offer some words of wisdom to the young Guys if required. The score would indicate that the young Guys did not require too many words – this time at least. Horowhenua Kapiti put up some resistance, but the Lions were just too strong.

Last weekend saw the running of the NTI Townsville 500 Supercars round. Race 16 was won by Will Brown, 2^nd Brock Feeney (Chevrolet Camaros) and 3^rd Chaz Mostert (blue badge), with Shane van Gisbergen 4^th. Race 17 had a blue badge piloted by Anton De Pasquale in 1^st place, Brodie Kostecki 2^nd and Andre Heimgartner (Kiwi) 3^rd. SVG came in 5^th after starting the Race in 25^th spot. Of interest was that outside of 1^st place, the Chevys were in the next 6 spots. As a matter of interest, Brown leads the Drivers Championship by 7 points from Kostecki, his Team-Mate. Still a lot of Racing to be done

This weekend our Prem 2’s and Colts are at Lyndhurst, Tawa Ducks at Petone and Reserves at Ian Galloway Park. 

Lets hope the weather holds for a good day of Rugby.

Allan G Davidson

President

UPCOMING GAMES | 15 JULY

We will be live streaming the Premier 2 this weekend on Tawa Rugby Live.