News

It was a good weekend for Counties Manukau teams taking part in representative rugby with the region’s U19 side securing a key win and the Karaka U85kg side winning again in the national competition.

The Counties Manukau U19s enjoyed a 13-12 win over Waikato at Colin Lawrie Fields in Pukekohe on Saturday, to help restore from pride after the PIC Steelers narrow loss to Waikato the night before.

The local side was powered by a Kana Vale try to go with first-five Josh Penney’s conversion and two penalties to claim the narrow win.

The Karaka U85s continue their storming run in the New Zealand Barbarians national club competition, beating the Upper Hutt Rams 23-21 to advance to the final four.

It has been phenomenal run from the local outfit, and they await confirmation of their semi-final opponent and schedule as this story goes to print.

The Bayleys Counties Manukau Bs went down to North Harbour 24-10 – also at Colin Lawrie Fields on Saturday.

Jeremy Clark’s side couldn’t go with their northern rivals but got tries from midfielder Amanaki Savieti and winger Nicholas Nasila.

The Counties Manukau Heat Development side lost to Auckland 41-19 but those involved were pleased with how things played out.

The squad was a mix of talented youngsters that will feature in the U18s side, wider squad members of the Counties Energy Heat and some players that had performed well at club level.

Coaches David Faitala and Nikki Bhana have done a great job getting this group to gel together given their different backgrounds.

Manurewa High School 1^st XV lost to Westlake Boys 36-24 - Moala Fungalei, Walter Kava, Ruepena Tolofuaivalelei and Taeao Pomale-Time dotting down in the process.

Pukekohe High School also went down in their final – losing to Matamata 24-17.