The Weymouth Rugby Club is undergoing a long-awaited facelift that will see a major transformation for a small club that was in dire need of assistance.

Located in the heart of South Auckland and just down the road from the powerful Manurewa Rugby Club, Weymouth has often struggled to foot it with the bigger clubs on and off the field.

But their hard-working crew of volunteers have done a fantastic job over the years, ensuring the club has managed to survive even in tough times.

Counties Manukau Rugby assisted Weymouth in applying for funding to refurbish the clubrooms at Laurie Gibbons Reserve and were able to get some support from Trillian Trust and Wiri Licensing Trust earlier this year.

The project began this week after a delay in the availability of building materials due to COVID.

The inside of the clubrooms will be gutted with the walls, floor etc all replaced. An electrician will begin wiring up in the next couple of days.

Skip bins are on site to remove all the rubbish and, once the inside is completed, scaffolding will arrive to begin work on the exterior of the building.

A brand-new commercial kitchen will be installed, and the project will be finished over the off-season so that Weymouth Rugby Club can celebrate their 50th year of existence in style in 2022.

“This is such a big thing for our club, and I cannot thank Trillian Trust, Wiri Licensing Trust and Counties Manukau Rugby enough for their help with it,” club president Mike Tu’ua told Counties Sports Hub.

“Our clubrooms have not had much love over the years, and they were in bad need of doing up. It is really hard for our group of hard working and dedicated members to do that on our own and so to have this support is amazing.

“The finished product is going to be great, and it will be a big boost to our club and the wider community.

“The benefits to the community will be huge – we already have a regular church group that hires the clubrooms and so this will be the first of many community groups using the upgraded facilities.”