Presidents Welcome

It was great to see such a large crowd down at the club on Saturday, and I am sure you will agree the three senior teams set the tone for the season with a clean sheet against the opposition.
 
This week rugby accommodates for the Southland ritual that is duckshooting. As a result the Premier competition is the only action was we return to night rugby. This evening (Thursday) our Premier team will look to maintain their solid start to the season when they take on a formidable Marist side at Rugby Park. 6pm Kick off. The ground is open to spectators from 5.45pm. It would be great to see a large crowd to support our boys along.
 
To assist with planning your diaries, the Premiers will then back up again against Blues next Wednesday evening, again at Rugby Park before normality returns on Saturday 14^th May with all of our teams back in action.
 
Thank you to all our Club and Team Sponsors who have committed your support for the 2022 season. Your continued support is greatly appreciated and we look forward to being able to acknowledge you throughout the season. If you would like to know how you can sponsor Pirates Old Boys, then please contact Andrew Moreton to discuss further.

The $100 Club is back for 2022 so get in quick and grab your ticket/s from Peter Forde.  
 
Our events team have locked in our annual Lip Sync competition for 21 May, with the remaining events to be confirmed next week (key an eye on social media for the updates). Lip Sync is always a great night and showcases there is more to our Players and Management than just a rugby skillset! Book the babysitters, get the mates together and lets make a real night of it.
 
As valued members of our club, we welcome any feedback on how we can continue to grow and evolve the Pirates Old Boys brand. Please reach out to any of the committee to share your thoughts.
 
To the duckshooters amongst us, have a safe and enjoyable weekend.
 
Once again, thank you for your continued support and we look forward to seeing you down at the club over the course of the season.
 




Mike McKenzie
President

Click to Points table enlarge

Windsor Physio / Forde Autos POB Premiers

Forde Auto Services/Windsor Physio Pirates Old Boys Premiers vs. Marist.
Rugby Park Thursday 5th May 2022 6pm Kick Off
We all enjoy night footy. Lets get along in our numbers and support our Premiers as the take on a strong Marist side.
Look forward to seeing you all there.




Match Summary: 
Forde Auto Services/Windsor Physio Pirates Old Boys vs. Woodlands Sat 30th April
Score: 27 - 26 (22 - 11 Halftime)
Scorers:
Tries: Junior Toparea, Materua Tupou, Isaac Te Tamaki (2)
Conversions: Greg Dyer 2 from 4
Penalties: Greg Dyer 1 from 1

A beautiful autumn afternoon greeted a large crowd at Surrey Park for our first home games of the season. After solid victories by the Presidents and Development sides earlier in the day, the Premier side was clean to make it a clean sheet for the day.
Playing into the wind in the first half, POB started the stronger of the sides and were rewarded with a try to Junior Toparea under the posts to open the scoring. Greg Dyer converted to give POB a 7-nil lead. Woodlands used the conditions to their advantage and set up camp in the POB half. Strong defence ensured Woodlands didn’t cross the stripe, though two penalties to Marty McKenzie closed the gap to 7 - 6 after 20 minutes. Dyer ensured POB came away with points from their next venture into the Woodlands 22, before Woodlands finally crossed the chalk, from a lineout drive. POB finished the half the stronger team, with two tries to Materua Tupou and Isaac Te Tamaki, capping off excellent attacking plays.
POB went into oranges, 22 - 11 ahead.
Woodlands were the better team across the second 40, controlling territory and possession, which much resembled the 2nd half of their Galbraith Shield performance in 2021. A mark of a quality side being their ability to accumulate points every time they ventured into the POB 22. An unconverted try, followed by a penalty goal, then a converted try saw Woodlands take the lead 26 - 22 with less than 10 minutes to play. POB weren’t finished yet and threw everything at Woodlands. After a couple of unsuccessful attacks at the line, POB were eventually rewarded with Isaac Te Tamaki crossing for his second of the afternoon to get POB back in front by 1 with one play remaining. If you had any fingernails left, they were soon gone with POB failing to capture the restart, swinging Woodlands back on attack. Disciplined defence led to an excellent breakdown penalty for POB, ensuring we held on for victory.
A game of two halves but a lot of positives to take out of it given a number of players (forwards) unavailable this week. Shows the depth the squad has in it which will be needed in what is a condensed competition format.
The win was dampened by the injury to fullback Kaea Nikora Balloch, dislocating his shoulder in the first half. We wish Kaea a speedy recovery and we look forward to seeing him back on the field soon.
MVP:
3: Jakob Harrex (POD)
2: Josh Harwood
1: Isaac Te Tamaki

Congratulations to Joseph Wynne on earning his first Premier cap for Pirates Old Boys. Well done and we look forward to many more in the future.
In our first-round game, against ENC Barbarians, we had a number of debutants for the Premier side. Congratulations to Levi Gage, Alex Fraito, Tuki Hiko, Jakob Harrex, Junior Toparea, Kaea Nikora Balloch and Jordan Tooby.

Our MVP points in the first round went to:
3: Levi Gage (POD)
2: Jakob Harrex
1: Josh Murrell

This week sees the return of night rugby prior to Duck Shooting. The boys will take on Marist at Rugby Park on Thursday evening. 6pm kick off. Marist started the season with a convincing victory over Blues before COVID impacted their subsequent fixture with Woodlands, before having the bye this weekend. We look forward to seeing you all at the park to support the boys.

Premiers debutant Joseph Wynne with his grandfather and team manager Allan Meikle. 

Click Image above to enlarge

Forklifts NZ / Widespan Sheds B's

Forklift NZ - Widespan Sheds Pirates Old Boys Development Team vs Woodlands
Score 42-17 (22-5 HT)
Scorers
Tries: Cody Parkhill, Levi Robertson, Jordan Tooby, Jerone Diack, Corey Diack, Blair McKenzie
Conversions: Blair McKenzie 4 from 6
Penalties: Blair McKenzie 1 from 1
Near perfect conditions seen the Development play it's first game of this season after a bye last week against Woodlands at home.
After a slow start POB got into their work and soon scored a good team try to Cody Parkhill, converted by Blair McKenzie.
Two more tries to Captain Levi Robertson and Jordan Tooby with a conversation to Blair McKenzie seen the lads with a good lead heading towards half time.
An intercept to Woodlands right on halftime seen the score at 22-5 at the break.
Running with the wind in the second half seen Woodland hot on attack and were quickly rewarded with try.
POB hit back straight away with hooker Jerone Diack picking up a low pass out wide, fending off a defender before beating another to run to score a try (as pictured above).
Blair McKenzie converting from out wide.
Replacement Prop Corey Diack was next to score again converted by McKenzie.
Woodlands managed 1 more try and conversion before a penalty to POB and some quick thinking from Blair McKenzie with a quick tap seen him run in untouched from 45 metres out.
His conversion was the last act of the game and seen the lads come out winners 41-17.
MVP
Jerone Diack 3 (POD)
Jordan Tooby 2
Francisco Troncoso 1
Congratulations to Cody Parkhill, Tim Smellie, Tarariki Henry and Francisco Troncoso for making their debut for POB.
No game this weekend with duck shooting.

 

Telfer Young, Southern Cad and Health and Safety Central Senior C

The C’s kicked off their 2022 season with a 46-0 win over Central Pirates, with a few back from retirement and some new faces the squad is in good shape and competition is fierce for a spot on the reserve bench. With a short season due to Covid it is likely the fitness levels will only start reaching a 20 min spell in time for the finals, so plenty of points to work on over a beer on Thursday nights.
Al Gray pulled on his jersey (ably assisted) for over the 400th time and most of the players made it home to help with dinner that night. 
Arguably still the best smelling team in the club. 

On the Spot Kracker Jacs Pirates Old Boys Junior Rugby

G’day readers, our Junior charges are getting excited for kick off.  We have had to delay the start for a week due to duck shooting.
But having an extra week under our belt won’t hurt, especially as I am still waiting on another set of jerseys to arrive.
 
Like Covid our numbers are increasing, we have had to expand out to include a fourth team in Under 6 grade.
Peter Forde’s granddaughter is in the line Red team…I wonder how much she is like her granddad (said with a wink!)
 
This seasons sides will be known as -
U6s -   Crackers Contracting POB Gold, Kracker Jacs POB Black, Southern Cad POB Blue, Forde Auto Services POB Red
U7s -   Highend Building POB Black, Toothworks POB Blue
U8s -   Shaw Building POB Blue and Kracker Jacs POB Black
U9s -   Kracker Jacs Pirates Old Boys
U10s - Kracker Jacs Pirates Old Boys
U11s - Pat O’Sullivan Plumbing & Drainlaying Pirates Old Boys
U13s - Tim McDonald Building Pirates Old Boys
 
P.S.
Have a scrounge around the garage and see if you have any old kids playing boots, we keep a pile at the club for kids that don’t have any.
Mitch Harvey, you have hung up your boots… I am sure they will fit a 10 year old (again said with a wink!).

Johnsy
 
 

  A BIG thank you to our generous sponsors.

Forde Auto Services
Rothbury Insurance Brokers
MTF Invercargill
Wide Span Sheds
Bunnings Trade
Southern Cad Services
Telfer Young Valuation Service
Duratec Construction
AC Logging
Harvey Tanks
SBS Bank
Malloch McClean
Southland Vehicle Sales
Southern Ocean Safety
Cruickshank Pryde
Forklifts NZ Ltd
Diacks Nursery
Professionals Real Estate
Pneumatic Contractors
Health & Safety Central
Night’n Day Tay Street
Daryl Burgess Masonry Limited
Telfer Drainlaying
Harcourts  Dave Hegarty/Barry Heyrick
Smith Do Build
ILT - Editors Cut/Craftys
ILT Foundation
Community Trust Of Southland
McCulloch Partners
SouthFish
Progressive Rural Trade Services
Labelz
NZAB
TRENZ
Harcourts
Windsor Physio
back9 Creative Studio
Tim McDonald Building
Kerbside Bakery
On the Spot Kracker Jacs
Meikle Family