Northland Age
  • Northland Age home
  • Latest news
  • Sport
  • Rural
  • Opinion
  • Kaitaia weather

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • Sport
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology

Locations

  • Far North
  • Kaitaia
  • Kaikohe
  • Bay of Islands
  • Whangārei

Weather

  • Kaitaia
  • Whangārei
  • Dargaville

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Northland Age

Mangonui teams' struggle for numbers growing

Northland Age
11 May, 2015 08:54 PM5 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

THE WRIGHT STUFF: Johnny Wright carrying the ball up for Eastern in the 36-19 win over Aupouri at Taipa in round 5 of Mangonui senior club rugby on Saturday.

THE WRIGHT STUFF: Johnny Wright carrying the ball up for Eastern in the 36-19 win over Aupouri at Taipa in round 5 of Mangonui senior club rugby on Saturday.

Eastern 36 Aupouri 19 (17-12): Eastern maintaining second spot on the Mangonui ladder with a comfortable enough win at home over Aupouri in round 5 of Mangonui senior club rugby at Taipa on Saturday.

Eastern coach Mike Jurlina admitted this was not the prettiest game but was happy enough to take the bonus point win whilst retaining the Broughton Shield and Hetaraka Cup, the two trophies up for grabs between the two sides each time they played each other.

"There was a lot fire and passion and full credit to Aupouri, they crossed our line three times and gave us the toughest game so far this year. They exposed some things we have to work on before next week and will have a good shot at a top four spot this year."

Eastern standouts included Zac Phillips and John Butler in the forwards, and first five Mitchell Jurlina in the backs who slotted all but one of his kicks.

Aupouri player/ coach Pocko Still was pleased to see his side prove more than a handful in the first half, despite several players arriving late and forcing the start of the match to be delayed slightly.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"It was a good game for us. We were struggling for numbers again," he said, reciting a common-enough complaint for bottom four teams in both Mangonui and Bay club rugby competitions.

"Eastern thought it was going to be easier than it was a little bit I think. Everyone wrote us off as they have been doing. The one thing that got us was fitness in the end, [otherwise] we were really competitive. Their fitness showed out in the last 20 minutes but at least we can see what we need to do - that players have to get to training."

Aupouri tries by Still, Kevin Jobe and Joe Oneroa, while standouts were young openside Justin Murray in the forwards, and (once again), No.8 Aaron Munroe.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Motukohu 17 Te Rarawa 37 (ht 12-14): The battle of the two west coast clubs was not quite as fierce a contest as anticipated at Kohukohu with Motukohu only able to field a skeleton team thus allowing Te Rarawa to run out clear winners when full time sounded on a crisp, picture perfect day in the North Hokianga.

Weathering the initial storm by the visitors, Motukohu - with only 16 players reportedly - scored first, against the run of play, and also last in the first half to go in to the break trailing by a narrow deficit, noted Motukohu's John Guest. "Rarawa had us under pressure for the first quarter of an hour. Second half our boys, probably a bit of fitness," said Guest, noting a couple of late tries saw Te Rarawa finish the better team.

Of the turnout, Guest said being unable to put the same team out on the paddock at any time this season was proving the main obstacle to producing cohesive performances. As was the large, remote and widespread catchment area from where the side drew its players, and which affected the ability to hold a decent training run on Thursdays under lights at Kohukohu. Tries by Stan Dunn 2 and Jesse Wallace with Sam Wallace converting one.

Te Rarawa coach Rikki Horlock - who injected himself into proceedings at first five late in the day - described this as an error-strewn affair noting either side could, at least, use the mistakes as part of their respective learning curves.

"Motukohu played well particularly in the first half.

Their forwards were strong and did a good job of disrupting our ball at set pieces. It was a stop-start affair there were a lot of errors and the game was basically lacking in flow. In saying that, the experience has highlighted specific areas which we need to improve in.

Te Rarawa tries by Dylan Phillips, Ilai Arona and Sean Covich, with Eli Morrogh kicking 4 conversions and 3 penalties; while standouts were Yates Gordon (best forward) and Shane Tuhiwai (best back).

Natives 53 Kaitaia 35: Natives celebrating their first win in Mangonui club rugby on home turf at Taheke on Saturday, a high scoring affair against a town side which has been struggling of late, the collaboration with the defunct Ngati Kuri outfit not working out quite as well as hoped for.

Despite the result, South Hokianga remain at the bottom of the ladder, equal on points with Aupouri but with a poorer for/against differential.

STANDINGS (estimated): Awanui (played 4, 309/25) 20 points, Eastern (4, 243/33) 20, Te Rarawa (5, 146/109) 15, Motukohu (4, 83/ 176) 7; bottom three: Kaitaia (4, 79/255) 6, Aupouri (4, 76/161) 5, Natives (5, 80/259) 5.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

The NRU advised it was suffering a glitch which prevented the automatic updating of the Mangonui standings on the website but this problem was being addressed.

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Sport

Northland Age

‘It’s pretty s***ty’: Warriors star calls for return of stolen boots

24 Jan 02:00 AM
Northland Age

Whangārei’s Lani Daniels to defend world boxing title in April

16 Jan 09:43 PM
Northland Age

'The world is starting to take notice': Māori sporting champs inspiring next generation

13 Nov 04:00 PM

There’s more to Hawai‘i than beaches and buffets – here’s how to see it differently

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Sport

‘It’s pretty s***ty’: Warriors star calls for return of stolen boots

‘It’s pretty s***ty’: Warriors star calls for return of stolen boots

24 Jan 02:00 AM

The items were meant to help raise funds for a Labour Weekend tournament.

Whangārei’s Lani Daniels to defend world boxing title in April

Whangārei’s Lani Daniels to defend world boxing title in April

16 Jan 09:43 PM
'The world is starting to take notice': Māori sporting champs inspiring next generation

'The world is starting to take notice': Māori sporting champs inspiring next generation

13 Nov 04:00 PM
Rising Stars: Whangārei boxers set to shine at National Amateur Boxing Championships

Rising Stars: Whangārei boxers set to shine at National Amateur Boxing Championships

01 Oct 11:30 PM
From early mornings to easy living
sponsored

From early mornings to easy living

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • The Northland Age e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to The Northland Age
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The Northland Age
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP