Centurions Rugby

Centurions Rugby

Football Club (Inc)

PO Box 11-101 WellingtonNew Zealand

November 2012

Christmas Function

Our Christmas function will be held at The Greenman Bar, corner of Victoria and Willeston Streets. This will be a truly celebratory occasion. Partners are most welcome. Finger food, which was fantastic last year, and refreshments will be provided. We are looking for a good turnout so please make your diary entry now and ensure we get the festive season off to a great start.

6.00pm, Thursday 20th December…see you there.

President’s message

The 2012 rugby season has come and gone depicting, arguably, the province’s best season for some years.

The Hurricanes inspired and expectations are high for 2013. Our Lions were superb to reach the semi-finals of the ITM Cup and, but for a foot in touch try and a possession turnover for an early scrum engagement we would have been in Christchurch as a finalist.

From a Centurions’ management perspective the season’s milestones for me were:

• Establishing a positive relationship with the WRFU.- two organisations working cooperatively for the betterment of Wellington Rugby

• The Centurions’ U18 side competing with merit in the Hurricanes’ U18 provincial representative competition – only a conversion away from a final with our Wellington U18 “A” side! The upside was an extra 25 age grade players kept in the game for an extended season and exposing them to a higher level of rugby.

• The U85kg side competing and winning the Auckland Barbarians’ tournament undefeated. Their cup was presented in our clubrooms after the Taranaki ITM Cup game.

• Paul Rolton organising another successful pre-test luncheon with entertaining guests Richard Tayler and the great CE Meads.

• Nigel Stirling hastily putting together another golf day. With few tweaks Nigel promises an even better day next year.

• Several new members were welcomed during the year with others on the verge as we look to increase the base of Centurions.

My thanks to the management team for their support and work during the year especially Hamish Vance and his team on the player development side, Paul Rolton and Nigel Stirling (events) Graeme Brooking secretary, and Murray Usmar for keeping us solvent.

May I wish you all a happy festive season as we all look forward with renewed energy and enthusiasm to 2013.

Denys Latham

President.

Patron’s Message

Wellington Rugby, with their success on the playing field, is no longer the side with, “only potential”. With enlightened coaching they are all well past that level, and now, with increasing support the desire to be the dominant Province will become more demanding. We are very proud of our local AB’s and already we have benefited from their influence. With such a background we have the opportunity to become the leading force in NZ Provincial Rugby.

Unless there is attention to the detail of tackling, possession, and kicking goals the savage reality of the game however, will cut any team down to size. A sharp criticism is how teams can allow themselves to be parked in their own territory for a major part of the game without due concern. Where they are on the field of play rests in the minds of the players and only those with a unified will and the ability to change a situation, will have an advantage.

Recently, it took a major province about 7 straight losses to learn this harsh lesson. We were not totally innocent either, but thanks to our coaches we are quick learners.

It is worth mentioning in our quest for top performances that the “Scoring Zone” is in the part of the field where the goal posts are!

Have an enjoyable summer and a great Christmas break.

Mick Bremner

Patron

Rugby Report

Centurions U18 Team

The Centurions were faced with a fantastic opportunity this year, when invited by the WRFU to join the Hurricanes U18 tournament along with Wellington, Taranaki and Manawatu. The Centurions took the usual place of HawkesBay who unfortunately was unable to enter a team in 2012. The Centurions worked very closely with the Wellington U18 setup, which proved highly beneficial. The two organisations worked closely on selection, conducted a joint trial, and trained together at WakefieldPark. The opportunity to have the occasional opposed training session made a difference to both sides, which was reflected in the performance on game day.

With only one pre-tournament fixture, a close fought 20- 17 victory over Wellington U16, the opening game versus Wellington was always going to be a tough ask. The Centurions were competitive for the first quarter, but Wellington’s dominance took hold, and the Centurions defence crumbled, eventually losing by a disappointing 72 - 6.

Despite the humiliating loss, the following weekend the team displayed fine spirit and nearly toppled Taranaki in a thriller at Petone Rec. Scoring a try in the final play in the corner, they were one conversion away from victory. Sadly it fell just short of the crossbar, the final score remaining 20 – 19 to Taranaki.

The close result was a boost for the team; the players had demonstrated to themselves that they could compete at this level, and they departed for Palmerston North the following weekend with restored confidence, knowing that a win over Manawatu would see them reaching the final. The Manawatu match at FMG Arena was initially a close fought affair, with the Centurions in touch at half time, trailing 12 – 9. In the second half Manawatu moved ahead with a penalty, before the Centurions crossed over the opposition line in what seemed a brilliant try. Unfortunately it was ruled a double movement, much to the disappointment of the Centurions. As a result of the distraction, Manawatu quickly countered with a converted try at the opposite end of the park - effectively a “fourteen pointer”. The final score was 21 – 9, but all felt the result could have quite different had things gone the way of the Centurions. Wellington, who thumped the Centurions in the first round, went on to beat Manawatu in the final, in a close game.

Despite not coming away with a win, playing in the tournament against quality opposition was thoroughly worthwhile for the players, and at the same time raised the profile of the Centurions. It would be wonderful to play in the tournament again next year, if the opportunity arises. The Centurions are highly appreciative of the opportunity to work closely with the WRFU U18 setup, and will look to continue and grow this relationship next season.

Matt Anderson

Centurions U85kg Team

Centurions accepted an offer from the Barbarians to attend their annual Middleweight tournament held in Auckland over the weekend of 15/16 September 2012. Greg Halford, Ian Tulloch and Kevin Hewson were the appointed coaches and management with Rod Plimmer stepping in for Kevin at the last minute. The Centurions team selection included 20 players across the 85kg grade and 5 eligible players from higher grades. The team assembled for two weeks training with a clear message from the coaches to play fast attacking rugby with uncompromising defence.
The Middleweight tournament was played under a format of two games per day, each game made up of two 20 minute halves. Centurions drew Auckland and Waikato on the Saturday with ThamesValley and NorthHarbour on the Sunday.
The team played a great brand of attacking rugby created by the strong work up front from the tight five in both scrums and lineouts. This enabled the half backs and loose forwards to launch attacks at will and to link seamlessly with the strong running centres and the speed out wide. Both first five/eights controlled the games with precision. The structure, commitment and physicality of defence across the whole team was the real difference and ensured our line was never crossed in the tournament.
The results were 20-3 win v Auckland, 20-3 win v Waikato, 20-0 win v ThamesValley and 29-6 win v NorthHarbour. 89 points For and 12 Against.
Centurions - Winners of the NZ Barbarians Middleweight Cup for 2012.

Ian Tulloch

Centurions Charity Golf Tournament

(In support of the NZ Rugby Foundation and the Centurions rugby programme).

The annual golf tournament was held on Wednesday 3 October 2012 at Shandon Golf Club in Petone. Everyone had a great day inspite of the stiff northerly. We had 16 teams this year and raised approximately $3,200 for both clubs.

There were changes this year. The first was that it is played on a Wednesday. The second was that the format changed to a three ball Ambrose competition.

We all look forward to another successful tournament in 2013, and hope to go back to the more traditional Friday afternoon format. We will keep you posted.

2013 Annual Test Luncheon

Next year’s annual test luncheon will be held on Friday 23 August 2013. The All Blacks play Australia the following day.

If you have not confirmed your table and would like to attend, your best action is to contact Paul Rolton, ph 027 353 8951 or

N.B. We will accept single ticket sales, so as long as you don’t mind where you sit!

New Membership

The Centurions Committee would like to welcome the following new members:

Brian Simmonds

Claire Rowat

Trevor McComish

Tristan Meo

Willie Gemmell

Craig Whale

Paul Burgess

Nigel Stirling

Mike Woollet

Greg Halford

Rod Plimmer

If you would like to nominate someone please go to our website to download an application form,

Contact details

Have your contact details changed recently? If so we would like to keep our database right up to scratch and would appreciate your updated details.

Centurion members change of contact details.

Name………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

Address……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Phone details………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Email Address……………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Please post to The Secretary, P O Box 11 101, Wellington, or email to

Web-site

Our website has a new look for 2012, including updated photo’s, calendar of events, contact details etc

Have a look at:

Newsletter

Special thanks to Graham Stephen for sending out this newsletter via email and also enveloping/sending the newsletters to those of you who are not ‘electronic’ as yet. Thanks for your time and effort Graham!

Mike Russell

Editor

Executive contact details 2012

Office / Name / Mobile / Home / Email
Patron / Mick Bremner / 384 9969 /
President / Denys Latham / 027 692 2970 / 233 1426 /
Vice President / Matt Anderson / 027 434 0382 / 479 0065 / ,nz
Past President / Nigel Hughes / 021 458 016 / 384 9375 /
Secretary / Graeme Brooking / 021 111 2287 / (04) 298 8314 /
Treasurer / Murray Usmar / 029 938 3961 / 973 5341 /
Club Captain / Hamish Vance / 0274 402069 / 568 6750 /
Committee
Mike Russell / 0274 482 233 / 478 3376 /
Nigel Stirling / 021874632 / 499-2788 /
Mike Reedy / 027 327 7439 / 562 7669 /
Tracy Smith / 0275 442 007 / 562 8188 /
Ian Tulloch / 02102919023 /
Paul Rolton / 027 353 8951 / 566 6552 /