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North Otago named to play Wairarapa-Bush

The North Otago Heartland side has been named for round three of the 2024 Bunnings Warehouse Heartland Championship. North Otago will take on Wairarapa-Bush at Trust House Memorial Park in Masterton, with kickoff at the earlier time of 1:00pm. A livestream for this match will be provided via the Wairarapa-Bush Rugby Facebook page.Excelsior lock Apenisa Tuiba looks set to make his North Otago debut this week, named to start at lock in place of Anthony Docherty. Sevenaca Rabaka and Mat Duff also g...

North Otago v Thames Valley - Game Review

Heavy downpours in Te Aroha made for some pretty wet conditions, but it was the home side who set the pace early in the match.It took less than a minute for Thames Valley to hit the lead, when first five Todd Doolan ran in for a try under the posts. Not long after the restart, a loose carry from North Otago lead to a dropped ball being scooped up by the Swamp Foxes near halfway. The ball quickly made it wide to winger Fletcher Morgan who ran it in to make it two tries inside the opening three mi...

North Otago v Horowhenua-Kapiti

North Otago got their 2024 Heartland Championship campaign underway on Saturday. A tough first round 16-14 loss to Horowhenua-Kapiti, in a low scoring match dominated by penalties.The home side were on the backfoot early, when Horowhenua-Kapiti first five Brandyn Laursen slotted an early penalty to put the visitors on the board first.North Otago responded with a try to hooker Ryusei Kato, off the back of a rolling maul, before first five Greg Dyer added the conversion to extend the lead out to 7...

Pathways Continue for Local Women

The pathways continue to grow for our local women aspiring to further their rugby potential. Building on the strength of our local high school opportunities, and the Waitaki Wāhine at club level.There was a time not too long ago, where local Women had little option but to head outside of North Otago to follow their rugby dreams beyond high school. The re-emergence of a Women's side in 2013 signaled a change, and now a decade on the opportunities continue to grow year on year.The creation of the...

North Otago named to play Thames Valley

The North Otago Heartland side has been named for round two of the 2024 Bunnings Warehouse Heartland Championship. North Otago will take on Thames Valley at Boyd Park in Te Aroha, with kickoff at 2:30pm. A livestream for this match will be provided via the Thames Valley Rugby Facebook page.In the fowards, Bradley Harewood has been elevated from the bench to start at prop. While a new back row has been named for this week, with Manulua Taiti, Cameron Rowland and Kasimila Vaihu all named in the st...

2024 North Otago Heartland Venues Finalised

With the announcement of the North Otago Heartland fixtures for the 2024 season, the home venues for the Heartland Championship have now been confirmed.With the development of the new events & sport's stadium starting, we always knew this season that we would be looking for another home venue. It's good to finally have that confirmed.We're looking forward to utilizing the existing fields at Whitestone Contracting Centennial Park, while extending our use of the Weston Sports Ground. Maheno wi...

North Otago Development Squad 2024

Congratulations to the following players who have been selected in the 2024 McKeown Petroleum Development Squad.2024 North Otago Development SquadForwards:Backs:Anthony Docherty (Valley)Sailosi Vea (Old Boys)Will Knight (Athletic-Marist)Lane Hickey (Kurow)Zach Strange (Kurow)Matt Seuta (Excelsior)Henry Lemauai (Excelsior)Petero Lala (Athletic-Marist)Asaeli Ngahe (Athletic-Marist)Temesia Bolavucu (Athletic-Marist)Blake Welsh (Valley)Manu Tait...

North Otago Heartland Squad 2024

The North Otago Rugby Football Union would like to congratulate the following players on their selection in the North Otago Heartland Squad for the 2024 Bunnings Heartland Championship.The squad features a balance of returning players, mixed with a number of members new to the heartland squad for 2024. 14 players will look to make their North Otago debuts this season. The squad has been bulked up with loan players Greg Dyer and Sam Walsh, along with Fergus Read who is a returning New Zealand pla...

Top referees selected in new-look development programme

A new-look development referee programme has been introduced in 2024 and features more than 70 of the country's leading referees.The programme sees the traditional High Performance squad disbanded in favour of a regional model which will allow more referees the exposure to development and training.Split along Super Rugby regional lines, the five squads will come together for three development workshops a year in their regions, with each group having leading coaches overseeing their programmes.&n...

Forrest promises more hard-nosed approach

Sometimes you need to take a step back to move forward.  North Otago coach Jason Forrest was unsure about his future following the Heartland season, taking a break to spend time with his family and speak to the right people.But being part of the New Zealand Heartland XV campaign as an observer-coach last month reinvigorated Forrest’s ambition for the top job."That’s when I decided to have another crack," Forrest said.Forrest has been reappointed for his sixth season as Old Golds he...