Hauraki North extend lead in local rugby, duck hunting season starts in style

A hunter out for last year's duck shooting season.

Thames Valley Senior Club Rugby

Silcock Shield Senior A Round 6

Hauraki North 19- 10 Paeroa

Waihī Athletic 0- 41 Mercury Bay

Thames 7 - 32 Cobras

Whangamatā 35 - 10 Waihou

Hauraki North extended their lead on top of the table with 24 points, five points ahead of Cobras. This weekend the competition returns to a split round, whereby unplayed games from Round 5 are completed.

Fixtures:

May 13 - all games 2:35 pm

Paeroa v Whangamatā, Centennial Park

Thames v Waihī Athletic, Rhodes Park

Waihou v Cobras, Boyd Park

Te Aroha, Mercury Bay and Hauraki North all have byes.

Chiefs streak continues

Chiefs 52 v Highlanders 28

The Chiefs juggernaut keeps on rolling.

The Waikato-based side remain unbeaten after 11 rounds of Super Rugby Pacific.

Shaun Stevenson, Emoni Narawa and Damian McKenzie all saw their immaculate form continue with moments of brilliance on the counterattack, while the locking duo of Tupou Vaa’i and Naitoa Ah Kuoi impressed in the contact areas. Ah Kuoi, in particular, made the most of a rare start in place of the injured Brodie Retallick, especially at the breakdown where he won three turnovers.

Christopher Reive

Anton Lienert-Brown dives over to score a try against the Highlanders. Photo / Photosport.nz

Whangamatā Mah Jong

Three tables of three players made for great competition last Friday.

First: Marlene Campbell - 46 points, three-player table

Second: Jill Thomson - 44 points, three-player table

Third: Snow Harris - 39 points, four-player table

Duck hunting

There were excellent conditions for the season-opening weekend of game bird hunting.

More than 65,000 New Zealanders are believed to have turned out for the opening morning of the game bird season with low clouds, a bit of wind, and in some cases, rain, meaning excellent hunting conditions.

“Some of the wettest spring and summer seasons on record in many regions has meant that the waterfowl population is thriving,” says Fish & Game New Zealand chief executive Corina Jordan.

“The weather has provided perfect conditions for brood rearing and recruitment, with plenty of wet and ponded areas providing ample food.”

Jordan says feedback from hunters on the opening day has been positive.

“So much of opening weekend is about the tradition of coming together to spend time with loved ones and enjoying being in the outdoors.

“Often, our ranging teams encounter three generations hunting from the same maimai - a spot that may, in some cases, have been used by great-great-grandparents.

“For many people, it is a sort of pilgrimage, as much about rekindling friendships and family bonds as it is about harvesting wild kai, for many people.

“It is also a great time for strengthening relationships between rural and urban communities, with hunters coming from all walks of life being welcomed into rural communities and onto rural properties.

“Importantly, the collective harvest of wild, free-range game birds provides safe, sustainable, and ethical food for families across the country.”

Fish & Game officer for Waikato David Klee said that their rangers were very pleased with the high level of compliance and there were good numbers of birds around for hunters to harvest.

Source: Fish and Game NZ