Weekly Newsletter

Published: Wed, 07/02/25

Updated: Wed, 07/02/25

Hi ,

Greetings all,

Who needs international or Super rugby when you can go down to your local club and enjoy a bit of rugger in typical Wellington winter conditions.

It helped in my case by starting the day down at the local in Paremata. It was good to catch up with former Wellington Rugby CEOs Jim Te Puni and Matt Evans along with Tawa legends Chris (Floyd) and Mathew (Toddie) Boyd, before walking across the tracks to watch the battle for rugby supremacy for Western Bays.

Same stories, just a different decade!

Although the score lines fluctuated in all the matches Tawa participated in, when the final whistle went Tawa had won all five, with some decided by the last play of the match! A great way to finish the Premier and Premier 2 regular season competitions and the wins by Colts, Ducks - who remain unbeaten after a convincing 43 - nil win over Avalon - and Reserve Grade sets them all up nicely going into the final month of the season before finals day at Kilbirnie Park on 26th July.

Rick ‘Fonzie’ Stonnell ventured out to Petone Rec to watch the Colts play Petone. It was a cliff hanger in what was a top of the table clash. His report is below:

Our first-placed Colts played fourth-placed Petone at Petone Rec in very wet underfoot, driving southerly conditions at times. The conditions and the home ground advantage meant the points table counted for nothing and it looked like an upset was on the cards when we struggled to turn territory and possession into points. Petone were fired up and playing well, and although we had missed opportunities, we managed to keep within a score throughout the 80 minutes.

We went into the last ten mins 12-17 down, and if the score had remained at that few would've complained except Cliff and Faio.

However to their credit, our boys showed exceptional resolve and with some well-executed back plays and one off the ruck carries from the forwards, they got to within striking distance and held on to the ball of soap long enough for Penese Makapelu-Resale to barge over for the equalizing score, with a match-defining kick to come. Up stepped Jonty and it never looked like missing 30m out to the right. Our boys celebrated like they'd won Lotto, but the call from management was ''be humble, they gave us a good game'', which was credit to a good Petone side.

Coach Cliff wasn't celebrating though. When asked why, the answer was ''the job's not done'' until after next week's top of the table clash with Upper Hutt. The winner will almost certainly be crowned competition champs unless we draw and HOBM win with a bonus point v Petone.

I ventured out to Ngāti Toa Domain, which was packed with all four fields in action. The Premier 2s had just finished their game with a ‘convincing’ 12-10 win over Paremata-Plimmerton. This left them in fifth spot, just one point from making the top four and getting a life in the first round of the play-offs. They have their elimination play-off match next week against Upper Hutt at Redwood (1pm), a team that we struggled with in the first round, so I’m sure there is plenty of resolve to turn that result around.

Onto the Premiers. We entered the day in fourth spot, and if everything went right, we could have ended up second and the rewards of a home play-off match and a life if we lost. A loss we would have been sixth and faced a home elimination game!

The match was played in overcast weather with wet and muddy underfoot conditions. Not typical of Ngāti Toa Domain. Tawa played into a slight breeze in the first half and with time nearly up trailed by one point. However, a scrum penalty inside our 22 saw the Paremata-Plimmerton half back score and Paremata-Plimmerton went into the break with a six point lead. The second half didn’t quite go to plan and we went into the last play of the match trailing by four points. After a solid scrum, a pinpoint chip kick by James Soaolo into the in goal area, and a mad scramble, Nigel Hunt pounced on the ball to score and Tawa won the match 26-23.

A great win, which the team dedicated to Darcy Humphries, the six-year-old son of the team's manager who has recently been diagnosed with leukemia. Reminder that we are running numerous fundraisers for Darcy, which you can see below.

The result put us into second place and a rematch against Paremata-Plimmerton next Saturday at the home of rugby Lyndhurst Park, 2.45pm kick-off.

Next week is another big one. The Premiers and Colts are playing at the home of rugby, the Premier 2s and Ducks at Redwood Park, and the Reserve Grade away to Petone at Ngāti Toa Domain.

All these are vital games which I’m sure will provide great entertainment value for those that can make it.

Steve Rogers

President

DARCY HUMPHRIES - WE GOT YOUR BACK

As some of you may have heard, our very own Darcy Humphries has had his and his whānau lives turned upside down over the weekend when he was diagnosed with leukaemia. Simon and Fleur are a huge part of both the junior and senior clubs. We have a number of fundraisers to help the whānau through this challenging time. Please support if you are in the position to!

Give a Little Page

A Give a Little page has been set up for those who wish to donate. Click here to donate.

Quiz Night

The kaupapa of this event has changed - now all funds raised will go to Darcy and his whānau.

UPCOMING GAMES | SATURDAY 5 JULY

Grade	Home Team	Away Team	Location	Time
Premier	Tawa	Paremata-Plimmerton	Lyndhurst Park 1	2.45pm
Premier 2	Tawa	Upper Hutt Rams	Redwood Park 1	12.30pm
Colts	Tawa	Upper Hutt Rams	Lyndhurst Park 1	1.00pm
85s	Tawa	Old Boys University	Redwood Park 1	2.45pm
Reserve Grade	Tawa	Petone	Ngāti Toa Domain 4	2.45pm

Thank you,

Tawa Rugby Football Club

23A Lyndhurst Road, Tawa 5028, NEW ZEALAND

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