Ice Cold: PURC U8 Penguins 2017!

Contested training Saturday 3 June Great news!  We got the numbers of keen Penguins we needed, so training will be going ahead on Saturday from 9 - 10am (ish).  The forecast isn't great, but unless the fields are closed, we'll be training.   For those that have cold/illness recovering Penguins and weren't sure about whether you would make it, feel free to make the call on Saturday morning - it'd be really good to have you along if your young champion is up to it, but no need to push it if they aren't well.  The same goes for anyone who can't make it - we'll welcome you along if your plans fall through! We have been allocated the mini fields down at the Rugby Club (from the Club Rooms, they are in a direct line behind the No.1 ground / Bell Park).  We'll go for approximately 1 hour, although we may take an extra 10 or so minutes if we could use the work/are humming on all cylinders. Mid season weigh in Thursday 8 June This season the...

I saw a short vid today reminding me of the unbelievable ball running, pace, balance and change of direction at speed that was Christian Cullen at his best.  Add to that his relentless support play and I'm still happy to say he's the best 15 I've ever seen. If any of the boys want to check out what greatness looks like, skip straight to 1:40 Warratahs v Hurricanes for one of THE great tries... oh and then he destroys Scotland in his 2nd test with 4 tries...

Hi folks The draw is up (!) and our first game is AWAY vs Grammar Gold - GOLD! - at Shore Road 1a at 9:15am.  Here's a map: Shore Road, Newmarket Please meet at 8:40am at the field.  This will be my first time at Shore Road, but from memory the reports are that parking is a nightmare, so please allow 5 - 10 mins extra time to get parked and to the ground.  If it turns out parking is okay at that time of the morning, then we will have extra warm up time. :D Here is the link to the draw: NZ Rugby Draws Enter: Grade Type: Junior, Grade: U8 Restricted We are in Section 1 A couple of notes on the draw 1.  The draw uploaded lists games right through to 26 August.  Please do not take the draw at face value though.  The ARU (Auckland Rugby Union) have noted that they will make adjustments to the draw and move teams around at any time to attempt to even up the competitiveness of each of the pools ("sections").  Sooooo, please make sure to kee...

Hi folks We will have a contested intra squad training game tomorrow at Lloyd Elsmore Park field 1a (ie next to the hockey stadium where we had the first in house tackle box session), kick off (and meet time!) is at 9:15am. We will be treating this like any regular Saturday game, except we'll manufacture situations to help the boys understand how we put our core skills into practice in a game situation.  This should be a valuable session for the team. As always, please ensure the boys take responsibility for their mouth guards, and that they have a water bottle and a warm change of clothes.  We will be using the team jerseys for the training game. See you all Saturday! Cheers, Paul

Rain - lots and lots of rain - led to a late change of venue for your Mighty Penguins(c), but your heroes showed up at Norana Park, Favona ready to play! But first, we love to honor the Penguins that put the game ahead of themselves and put their hand up to make sure both teams get to play this great game of rugby.  So thank you Drew and Hugo for not only taking one for the team and helping out the Hawkes, but for making sure you did your best and made your team mates work as hard as possible to play the game!  You guys rock. The Papatoetoe Hawkes bought a lot of energy to their play, and in the first half they managed to shut down our Penguins ball runners.  The first 10 minutes of the games, our Penguins were struggling to get their hands on the ball and spent a lot of time defending hard up against their own line.  But Penguins are made of stern stuff and the boys held out wave after wave of attack making sure the damage to the score board was kept under contr...

Hi folks Likely due to the amount of rain being more than Papatoetoe could handle, we've had a venue change AND a kick off time change. New details are: Venue:  Norana Park 2b, Favona (Mangere).  Here's a map -  Norana Park, Favona (Mangere) Meet time - at the venue at 9:40am. If you have any questions, please let Nick or I know. Cheers, Paul

Hi folks This weekend our game is AWAY vs Papatoetoe Hawkes on Papatoetoe Rugby Club grounds, field 2b.  Here's a map: Map to Papatoetoe Rugby Club And here is a map of the grounds: Papatoetoe Rugby Club map Note the Rugby Club is on the same side of the road as Hunter's Plaza in Papatoetoe.  Due to having excellent ground mapping, we will meet at field 2b at 8:40am, ready to warm up. Please let Nick or myself know ASAP if you will be unable to make it this weekend, as we already have a couple of players out. Otherwise, we'll see you at Papatoetoe on Saturday.  As always, please be vigilant on the draw as it may change at late notice. Paul

Thanks to having an eye for a moment, Maddox's Dad Jeremy has produced first hand evidence of the beauty of the clean out!  Great work Jack on this magnificent piece of work, creating opportunities for your team to score points.

It might have been chilly at the dawn of the first in season game for your Pakuranga Penguins, but as we know, Penguins LOVE the cold.  And kicking off the season at one of the most picturesque grounds in Auckland on a beautiful morning, well, rugby just doesn't get better. First, a big thank you to all those Penguins that put their hand up to play for Te Papapa.  Putting the game ahead of your own wants is the sign of a decent human, so thank you to Mason, Michael, Jake and J-Dub for helping make the game!  Michael went that extra mile to show he's putting the game first by scoring a run away try in the first half from the kickoff, and turning around and doing the same in the second wearing Te Papapa black!  Way to shake off any question of bias! Early season games usually throw up teams of varying level of preparedness, and that was in evidence today.  Still, Te Papapa Titans had some talented young men in their ranks, and it takes a good team to keep that...

Hi all As per Nick's email, we are playing AWAY at War Memorial Reserve, Dunkirk Road for a tackle box session and subsequent game vs Te Papapa.  Here's a map: Mt Wellington War Memorial Reserve Please let Nick or I know if you can't make it so we can prepare for the tackle box and game accordingly. We will meet outside the Clubrooms at 8:30am.  Please note, there are a large number of teams all milling around, so please do your best to be on time so we can make sure we have the team together before we head off to warm up and run through the tackle box. We are running the tacklebox and playing on field 4a. By way of explanation, the tackle box is simply having the team run through a series of drills that ARU (Auckland Rugby Union) development officers watch over to ensure all players are being taught the skill of tackling in a safe and effective manner. Please remember to bring mouthguards, plenty of water and warm clothing for both before and after the game. ...