Ranga senior teams locked in two pieces of silverware on the weekend in what was an exciting weekend of senior footy.

The Premiers claimed the inaugural AR Cup for the winners of the premier grade knock out competition in a great match against University.

It was a tit-for-tat sort of match with Pakuranga showing a strong display on defence throughout and the few glimpses they had on attack were promising. Cruiz Overend and Oisin Dunn combined out-wide for the first try while as he so often does, Lotu Finau scored in the corner in front of the club house.

Midway through the second spell Pakuranga were at the wrong end of a penalty try and yellow card so forced to defend for 10 minutes with a man in the bin but did so confidently. Scores were level before Pakranga nudged ahead with a penalty and a late try to replacement halfback Boston Krone sealed the result.

In a reverse fixture at the University home grounds, the Under 85kg Panthers took on the Squids in defence of the Thomas Heeringa Cup, they came out on top in the fixture 30-21 to lock away the silverware for another year.

The Prem 2s hosted Ponsonby for the Patrick Tuipulotu knock-out Cup with the visitors stealing the result late in the match, 22-12.

The Belles headed south to face Otahuhu and notched up their second win of the season with an impressive six-try 36-10 victory. 

Our Under 21s were away to Marist and lined up in a tense encounter and despite a late surge, lost the match 21-24.

Our Presidents also had a tough match against Eden, a late try to the home team seeing our lads go down 5-10.

Article added: Monday 09 June 2025