Corner Office - tim@scrfu.co.nz 

Welcome to another weekly update from us. 

There is certainly a lot happening and we are pleased to always bring you up to date and keep you in the loop.

Our team is working hard to deliver, and we welcome feedback on how we can better communicate and work with you all.

Ranfurly Shield Challenge vs. Wellington Lions.

Please note that this years Ranfurly Shield Challenge is on July 19th at 2.05pm with a venue in Wellington yet to be confirmed. 

Wellington RFU and NZ Rugby are working hard to sign off on this but with the logistics of the Women’s Football World Cup it is proving a challenge. 

All parties are doing their best and we can only just wait on that final confirmation. Thanks for your patience. 

Ranfurly Shield Sponsorship opportunity:

We are still looking for sponsors to come on board and assist us with the costs of heading to Wellington for the challenge, so if you or if you know anyone or company that would like to assist us please contact Tim via email: tim@scfru.co.nz for further details.

Mother’s Day Promotion: 

Barkers Of Geraldine have kindly offered SCRFU 4 x giveaway packs for us to give to 4 Mums for their outstanding contributions to their families, all you need to do is send an email into us and nominate a Mum by Friday 12th of May, close off for entries will be mid-day where we will then draw out 4 lucky winners. 

On your email state why, you think ‘your Mum is the best’ to be eligible to go into the draw. 

Email to: tim@scrfu.co.nz 

Prizes can be collected from us at the PGG Wrightson’s Offices, 226 Evans Street, Timaru from Monday next week. 

Free introductory Te Reo Māori courses.

Ara Te Pūkenga in partnership with Te Aitarakihi are excited to bring you this new opportunity. 

Free introductory Te Reo Māori courses.

Ara will be onsite at Te Aitarakihi delivering this free 10- hour introductory Reo Māori course (5 weeks, 2 hours per week). 

This is a 10-hour introductory Māori language course for people with no knowledge of Te Reo Māori me ōnā Tikanga. Over the ten hours you will acquire basic skills in pronunciation and introductory phrases.

You will learn to pronounce Te Reo Māori with some confidence, participate in karakia, himene and waiata, understand basic Tikanga Māori and learn basic greetings, farewells, and numbers.

Date:     Thursday 18 May ( 5 weeks, 2 hours per week)

Time:     12.45pm – 2.45pm   or   5.30pm – 7.30pm

Venue:  Te Aitarakihi Marae-a-Iwi, 50 Bridge Rd, Timaru

Secure your place and start your Reo Māori journey today. Complete the attached enrolment and return to Ara by email (enrolmentsupport@ara.ac.nz  ) or in person to Ara or Te Aitarakihi and we will take care of the rest.   

South Canterbury Sports Awards Finalists – 2023. 

We are pleased to advise that several SCRFU members have been nominated across a few of the categories for this year’s awards. 

The award evening is set for next Friday 19th of May at the Caroline Bay Hall from 6pm. Ticket sales are available from Sport South Canterbury.

On behalf of us all, congratulations to all our nominees, an outstanding achievement to have made it through to this stage. We wish you all the very best.

Finalists

Game Development Manager - caro@scrfu.co.nz 

Secondary School Connect

• Brendon Ratcliffe joined us for an informative session around Secondary School Rugby and our current challenges we are facing. Brendon comes with a wealth of coaching experience along with experience in the teenage school environment. Subjects around training and game formats and attracting volunteers were discussed.
• Nigel Walsh shared his coaching wise words around creating the right culture and ensuring you are catering for diversity within your team. He shared his experiences and learnings which are valuable in this space. Creating that positive environment as we know is imperative.
• Christine from NZ rugby lead a session on concussion – she encourages schools to reach out and ensure they have a concussion protocol inplace to ensure our students follow the right return to play process.

There were lots of work ons in the teenage space, thank you to the schools who supported this evening.

Coaches Coaching Females

• We were fortunate to have Liz Worthington and Whitney Hansen deliver an online session to our coaches with some fantastic big rocks. The video will be shared through our game development page.

Tackle Clinics

• We are currently working with all secondary school girls teams and delivering a tackle clinic. If your team would like a tackle clinic or scum session please contact dean@scrfu.co.nz to book a session in.  

Gala Night

• Girls Rugby kicks off tomorrow night with our pre season Gala Night – competition starts next week 17th of May.

Womens Rugby

• The Geraldine Wahine have kick started their season, they are joining the Christchurch 15 aside competition. Jase Hurley has done a fantastic job coaching these ladies and has strong numbers again this season.
• Harlies also have a womens side who are training hard, they have had two games against Geraldine and a run around against Waitaki Wahine. 

Great seeing the women’s game re vitalise in South Canterbury 

Caro 😊   

Community Corner - tristram@scrfu.co.nz 

Safe Spaces South Canterbury Workshop

Tuesday 16th May.- Click on the poster below to Register 

Diversity & Inclusion Sub-Committee 

Work has started around forming a South Canterbury Rugby Diversity and Inclusion Sub-Committee. More information to come through clubs and social media. 

JAB GRADES ONLY- Under 8 to Under 13

Tackle Height – Game management

As the tackle height is now below the sternum, it may take some time for kids to adjust. While this is happening, it is up to our referees and coaches (could be the same person) to manage this below are the options in order of how this could happen. 

Before the game - Referee (coaches) to show tackle height before the game and explain the below process.

1st high tackle - Warning, the tackle is to high. If the tackle is marginal, this could be explained at the next stoppage, if clearly high, then a penalty should be awarded, again with an explanation. 

2nd high tackle - Penalty, explaining again that this is to high. Use this opportunity to explain to both teams where the tackle hight is.

Multiple offenders – Have the player go to a coach or manger for a 5-minute break. This time can be used to explain why they are there. This player can be replaced to ensure an even game can continue.

Rugby Development Officer - dean@scrfu.co.nz 

As we head into the rugby season with speed. Some focus areas are on our tackle technique for youth. We are offering tackle clinics for all u8 &u9 teams. As well as for all secondary school girl’s rugby. 

The team and I will be visiting clubs and schools delivering these sessions over the next few weeks.

Feel free to email me dean@scrfu.co.nz if you would like us to visit your team and deliver a tackle clinic. Ideally u8 & u9, however we encourage all JAB and teenage teams to reach out. 

Coming up is also the exciting Year 5&6 Rippa Day. This will be at Ashbury Park next Wednesday the 17th. 

We look forward to seeing all the keen young superstars running around.

Admin Desk - jason@scrfu.co.nz 

Below are links to the Live Draws for all South Canterbury Rugby Club and School teams .

These are the most upto date versions - Keep an eye them each week for any slight changes - Usually due to club days or ground conditions 

The best way to keep informed of all the comings and goings , inc draws/ Live scores/ results / App notifications ( for cancelations / game changes etc to to down load the SCRFU game Day App - Click here or the button below 

If you have anything to promote or would like to see in this newsletter please drop a line to admin@scrfu.co.nz 

A Big Weekend down at Harlies coming up celebrating 25 years  

Congratulations from us all at South Canterbury Rugby

Waimate Club & Cultural Day 

Our “Cultural Club Day” will be a full day of family friendly community sport involving people of all ages from all cultures. 

It will be a celebration of the cultures that are part of our club and other cultures within our community. 

We will have various activities throughout the afternoon involving the younger members of our club. 

We will have a sampling of cultural cuisine on offer and be referencing the cultures involved in our club throughout the Senior and Senior B games.

Importantly for Waimate Rugby Club supporters you just need to know that this week's games which are brought to you by some of our generous Silver Sponsors will be starting from 9.45am and if you get positioned well you can watch multiple Waimate JAB players at once.

This is where we all started our rugby whether it is this year, last year or 60 years ago so offer plenty of encouragement so they can grow up loving rugby too!