Expanding rugby into the future

Kaiti School’s Zavier Williams (left) and Amaia Mahaki do their best to remove tags from a flying Waikirikiri School player Aaliah Karikari-Sealey.

For the first time in over five years Poverty Bay held the Junior Intermediate Inter School Rippa/Tackle competition at Barry Park.

Among the schools that competed, Gisborne Intermediate School met Patutahi and beat them in the final of the Rippa rounds.

An eventual final round was called off for the Tackle competition due to time constraints.

However, Poverty Bay Rugby Football Union junior and women’s development officer Mitch Purvis said based on the results accumulated throughout the day, it was concluded that Gisborne Intermediate had the most points to earn the Tackle title.

Purvis said they had not held the event in some years but needed to get the games running again.

“It was a really good day with some really good rugby played,” Purvis said.

“We are looking forward to expanding this space into the future and further developing the game with the schools.”