Ross Brown Central Under 13 rugby team named

This year's Ross Brown Central Taranaki Under 13 rugby team has been named.

The players will be put to the test as a team this weekend in a pre-season game against the Ross Brown North Taranaki team.

Brendan Haami, one of the coaches for the Central team, says the biggest challenge was accommodating team member's other interests and commitments and making sure they are not overloaded.

"We had 40 players turn up for trials. The interesting thing is talent varies from year to year. This year we worked on picking players who are skilled and fast regardless of their size."

The Ross Brown tournament is made up of West, Central, South and North teams. From the tournament, the Taranaki Primary School team is picked. The tournament takes place on the first weekend in August.

Coaches are Brendan Haami and Tracy Churchill. The team is managed by Kelly Larsen.

The major sponsors for the team this year are McDonald Real Estate which sponsors team jackets, CMK Accountants which sponsors team hoodies. Central Taranaki Automotive sponsors team shorts and Stratford ITM sponsors team backpacks.

The team also has support from Timberco, Dimocks Stratford, Union Yamaha, Magnum Sports, Abstract Signs, Easy2C, BNZ, RJ Eagar, Image, Rod Gordon and Icon Sports in Tariki.

Team members are: Nathan Baker, Cody Campbell, William Campbell, Malachi Churchill, Toby Dymond, Max Edgcombe, Blaze Feierabend, Liam Gyde, Ramero Haami, Sam Hancock, Jamari Hayward, Liam Hutchinson, Jack Kemp-Robinson, Dylan Kowalewski, Ethan Larsen, Liam Martin, Thomas McKerchar, CJay McMinn, Brayden Neilson, Cooper Patterson, Darren Pease, Jordan Venables, Jake White, Tekaha Wilson-Smith.