Otago Rugby Union eNewsletter

Editorial

Good afternoon Otago Rugby supporters.

All locations and times for our Otago Spirit home games are now confirmed! We are looking forward to playing our first home game in Oamaru North Otago. The second home game on Saturday 12 August against North Harbour at Forsyth Barr Stadium is also a DOUBLE HEADER with Otago men taking on Wellington afterwards at 4:35pm.The third home game is being held at the University of Otago Oval, and the time has now been changed to 2:05pm. Can't wait girls!!!

A round of applause for Debbie Ferguson, the winner of our Volunteer of the Month for May. Once again we had so many incredible nominations and can't express how truly grateful we are to our volunteers, you really do make the biggest impact on how we run rugby throughout the province and also in spreading the love and spirit of the game. Scroll down to read more about Debbie and what an awesome human she is!

The Women’s Super-Rugby Aupiki trophy came to Dunedin for a visit. Our Otago Spirit/ Matatū players Eilis Doyle and Georgia Cormick took her for a tour around Dunedin followed by a big day in the Stadium celebrating “For the love of the Wahine game”. Kaikorai Women's played Zingari Women's in the development grade with Kaik winning 56-17. Alhambra Union Women’s played Varsity Women's in the Premier grade with AU winning 20-17. Two brilliant games of rugby under the roof and a fantastic day celebrating women’s rugby! Scroll down to check out some great pics.

The 2023 NPC & FPC Draws are out now! Scroll down to check out our Home Games, or check out the full NPC Draw here and FPC Draw here.

Scroll down for more rugby news and announcements like development opportunities, weekly happenings, rugby courses and more…

ODT Interesting Reads!

Race for semifinals gains momentum

This week’s ref profile of the week is Dave O’Neill. When not refereeing Dave is a sheep and beef farmer. Dave can be seen regularly refereeing in our Southern Premier comp on Saturdays and brings his vibrant nature to our fortnightly meetings.

How long did you play rugby for?

From age 9 to 30

What made you come to refereeing?

I felt like I wanted to give back to the game I love.

What have you enjoyed the most about refereeing?

Watching kids from age 9 grow to become eventually prem players. Its been a privilege.

What's your greatest refereeing moment to date?

Watching younger referees develop.

What do you want to get out of refereeing for the future?

Hope my body stays together so I can carry on refereeing

What would be your advice to someone who's thinking of taking up the whistle?

Just do it, its really rewarding and you get to meet a lot of great people in the big rugby family.

Thanks Dave, for helping our game!

OUR Game, OUR Referees.

Debbie Ferguson – Crescent RFC

“Debbie has worked tirelessly for years for the club behind the bar, on the committee and even cleans the bathrooms, she is always the first to arrive and the last to leave and definitely deserves a treat.”

Congratulations Debbie, you have scored yourself a $100 Cobb & Co. Dunedin meal voucher!

All other nominees, Corey Ford (A.U), Matthew Aitken (ORRA), Shakey and Jody Taylor (Strath Taieri) have scored themselves a $50 Cobb & Co meal voucher.

Thank you to all our volunteers for the work that you do for our rugby community week in, week out. We couldn't do it without you all.

A piece of history to share from one of our smaller clubs...

In 1985, a team of Clinton Rugby Football Club players travelled to the Balclutha Rugby Seven-a-Side tournament to contest the prestigious symbol of New Zealand Club Sevens, the Middlesex Cup. The Otago University RFC brought the trophy to Balclutha to defend it for that year. After winning three tough pool matches, Clinton defeated University in the final to take the Middlesex Cup back to Clinton.

The following year, 1986, Clinton hosted a Seven-a-Side tournament which attracted some of Otago’s best sevens teams, including 3 Dunedin teams. Once again, after another fast-paced final, Clinton defeated Otago University, which contained some Otago Representative players, to return the trophy to the Clinton RFC cabinet. The Clinton sevens team also won Southland’s Balfour Seven-a-Side tournament final in 1986. Total games played 7, Won 7. Points for 198, Against 4.

In 1987, the Middlesex Cup was won back by the Otago University team in another well-run tournament hosted at the Clinton RFC.

The Middlesex Cup was won by other Dunedin club teams, although not contested every year, until 2010 when Burnham RFC from Christchurch, won it from Otago University RFC. Since then, the trophy has been won by clubs in Auckland, Wellington, Hamilton and now, since 2020, resides in the Ardmore Marist club in Takanini, Counties Manukau.

On Saturday the 27th May 2023 the team reunited at Clinton’s Club Day after 36 years. On a glorious afternoon the current Clinton premier side lost to Clutha and with that were unable to take the Huddleston McKenzie Cup. The large crowd enjoyed a great game of rugby.

In a packed clubrooms after the game, Tony Anderson, the 7s captain from the 80s team gave an in-depth account of the times when Clinton won and held the Middlesex Cup. It’s a great piece of club history when a group of farmers and stock agents took on the more favoured town players.

Another late night was enjoyed by many. This was after a week when the local Warepa Collie Club had made a fantastic job of hosting the NZ and South Island Dog Trials.

NZR and Visitor Solutions have released their first findings from insights on the Future of Rugby Clubs Project. This project is a two-year initiative to strengthen community rugby clubs around the country. The Future of Rugby Clubs project will identify the current and preferred future state of the rugby club system in New Zealand and provide a transformational plan for NZR to implement.

Otago Rugby will hold a series of drop-in sessions across the province in May to discuss the data/insights, how do the national findings align in our Otago context. Visitor Solutions will they run a series of clusters in June. If you would like to read the initial findings and roadmap of the project click on the links below. If you have any feedback contact your local club committee member.

Future of Rugby Clubs Road Map

Future of Rugby Clubs Preliminary Insights - Feb 2023