Four Pakuranga Junior teams venture down country this week for the annual Taupo Junior Rugby Festival. We can’t wait to hear how they go and caught up with the teams to find out a little more about them ahead of the weekend.

Under 10 Titans

The Titans have had a solid season with players building on skills from last year and improving throughout the year. The highlight has been several new boys were introduced into the team and have built confidence throughout the season given they were new to rugby.

The team is looking forward to being involved in a large tournament and experience playing against different teams that are not from Auckland as well as being part of the wider PURC family and mingling with other kids and families and supporting the other teams representing PURC.

Their goal is to finish the season on a high and to enjoy the experience and being together as a team out of Auckland.

The Under 10 Titans are: Harrison Bartley-Smith, Charlie Bongiovanni, Kaisyn Dang, Matthew Dennis, Xavier Doo, Xavier Grant, Zac Grant, Anna Konrad, Layla-Dee Manuele, Hunter Meiring, Daxon Morrow, Makaira Nimot-Paerau, Zahrai Palupe-Rahiri, Taimaia Redden, Harrison Robinson, Caleb Thompson

Coach: Dave Grant

Under 11 Turbos

This was the first season the team had made it to Pool A and they thoroughly enjoyed the challenge playing against some tough competition. Some of the highlights involved watching the team being down by double digits in the first half to come together as a team to grind out a win on multiple occasions. The Turbos finished our season 8 wins 7 losses 1 draw.

The team are really excited about traveling away together and playing teams that they wouldn't usually get the chance to play. The support of amazing sponsors means the team are pretty stoked with the PURC training kit supplied to them so they look the part!

The goals are to go out, play hard, play fair but mostly have fun and enjoy the opportunity to represent our club at this festival.

The Under 11 Turbos are: Jimmy Friend, Josh Hunkin, Kyan Norton, Max Kearney, Xavier Joy, Caden Van Niekerk, Leo Waaka, Sam Allen, Alexander Londt, Joziah Taramai-Remo, William Mackie, Te Whakaputanga Otene, Armand Wolvaardt, Zach Lee, Vinny Curtis, Cooper Delaney, Ashton Morris

Coaches: Rob Hunkin and Matt Norton
 

Under 12 Jaguars

It was the first year of 15-aside full field rugby and six new players to the team in 2023 for the Jaguars and they steadily built into their season.

Highlights were winning eight out of the last 10 games raising over $5k in BBQ's and quiz night for Taupo Tournament and our ref Johnny sporting his best wig at our home game vs University. The team are looking forward to playing different teams at Taupo, meeting new rugby friends, going to the pools, winning some games and having fun!!

The Under 12 Jaguars are: Alex Avis, Benjamin Brebner, Nathan Carpenter, Dante Deyzel, Ollie Fisher, George Hattingh, Flynn Hunt, Arden Lane, Luke Mclaughlin, Tyler Medcalf, Ryan Melville, Malumalu Palesoo, Max Theobald, Arno van Niekerk, Theo Vyver, Loughlin Walsh, Sam Watson, Oliver White, Ben Wynyard

Coaches: Mark Terry Phil and Johnny

Under 13 Thunder

Bowen Bartley-Smith, Sam Borchard, Liam Britz, Alaric Davidson, Remy Demuth, Seth Ellwood, Christian Ioane, John Ioane, Denzell Lauano-skipper, Callum Lodge, Jacob Macmahon, Clinton Marais, Blake Mitchell, Zane Morgan, Max Pascoe, Marc Patience, Dylan Scragg, Isaac Smith, Caleb Theobald, Jacob Thompson, Finn Todd, Aiden Vorster, Matt Lee

Article added: Thursday 14 September 2023