Under 18 Girls South/East: 
The Under 18 South/East Girls had a Saturday morning road trip up to Whangarei, where they were set to play off against their cross town rivals from Central/West.

Everyone knew the script, having gone down to their opponents 51-10 the previous week, and now being without four starting players due to injury, they were up against it to name a team sheet, let alone bridge the gap.

17 managed to make it up for the game, and backs coach Matt had it up against him only having five traditional backs available.

Two early tries to Central/West had South/East on the ropes, but some simple adjustments and defensive structure changes worked wonders, and the girls fought back with a try from Pakuranga Belles player Kiritea getting the team on the scoreboard. After a massive fight back from South/East the score was 12-10 to c/w at oranges.

Kiritea added to the scoreline in the second half with another try, full time score was 34-17 which was an incredible effort and had the South/East team feeling like they’d won the game.

This concludes their campaign, where they finish as runners up to a very talented Central/West outfit. Kiritea finished as joint top try scorer, and Eden had an outstanding campaign. Look out for more U18s to be representing the Green & Orange in 2024!

U16 South/East

Off the back of some convincing confidence builders in warm up matches, the Under 16 South/East girls headed down to Te Awamutu for the Northern Regions Tournament.

Pooled with Thames Valley, NZ Harlequins and Taranaki, they expected to fare well, but as every Auckland team is, knew they’d be a target game for oppositions.

First up the girls played NZ Harlequins, who put up a brave effort, but the South/East girls came away with a 27-12 win followed up by a convincing 41-0 win over Thames Valley.

Due to their not being any cross over games between pools, Sunday lay host to the final between Auckland South/East and Taranaki, who both had gone through their first two pool games unbeaten. 

Again the Aucklanders proved their class with another convincing win 42-19 and taking away the trophy.

Auckland Men’s Development

A handful of Pakuranga prems made the trip to New Plymouth with the Auckland Development team to face Taranaki.

Following in the footsteps of Marc Holzer who got called in previously, Lepani Tuifagaele was selected for the match, alongside Sione Takai and Sam Crichton.

Auckland started well, in terrible conditions but Taranaki bounced back in a serious way and led 28-12 at the break.

After a halftime rev up from Boof and other coaches, Auckland spent almost the entire second half on attack and went within a whisker (or in this case a dubious reffing decision) of taking the win, final score 28-24.

The Auckland boys thought they’d get another crack at Taranaki this weekend in the Northern Region Final but with that match called off they finish the rep season in second place.

A totally of five Ranga players, as well as coach Boof were involved in the Development campaign.

Article added: Thursday 28 September 2023