Chairpersons Update

Well on a wet Friday morning the countdown is now on for the 1^st hit out of the 2024 season. This time next week Poneke will roll into town. This game has been very close in the last few years, with Poneke getting up over Tukapa last year in the last 20 minutes. In 2021 Tukapa got the win at Sanders Park. As most of you know, this is a tradition that goes a long way back and there are a couple of off field games that go with it. I can say last year we went down and hope to redeem ourselves here.

Also next Saturday, as the curtain raiser, our Tukapa Toa will take the field for the first time ever.  This will be what our Female Premier team will be known as. These girls have been working very hard and are bonding well as one team. They will be a real asset to the Tukapa Family. At this stage this game will kick off at 12.30pm against TBA. We will let you know next week.

Long Time Sponsor Signs for Another 5 Years

We have fully stocked the bar and will have both the top and bottom bars open next week so be sure to come up and support the teams then stay for a few afterwards and watch the great Boat race. We thank Lion for coming back on for another 5 years as our brewery sponsor.

Remember our bar is open every week during the following times and all members are more than welcome:

Monday               4pm to 9pm                       Darts

Thursday             7pm to 8pm                       Training

Friday                   3.30pm to 6.30pm         General Meeting

Saturday             3.30pm to 6.30pm         Super rugby review group

Times altered during rugby season.

Club Working Bee

This Saturday sees our annual Working Bee.  Please, if you are available, come up to the club house Saturday and lend a hand.  This is a call out to all supporters, players and friends of Tukapa - many hands make light work and then we can open the bar afterwards and throw some sausages on the bbq.

Chook House Workday

Saturday 16Th March - 9:30 AM Start

Job	Lead
Halfway Containers, Clean & Tidy, Paint Inside Top Container, Lay Rubber Flooring, Seats end of field & Posts up	Scott S
All Sheds Cleanout & tidy up	Player or Management from a squad to do their room if available
Refs Room Clean-up & Tidy	DJ
Empty out the old office & lift the carpet	DJ
Front Entrance & Ash’s Stairwell	DJ
Clean up the back stairwell
Run Weed eater around cricket pitch edges & machine blow/brush vacuum around outskirts of the club (glass & rubbish etc)
Clean out behind all 3 bars	Gav
Showers Steam Clean/Water Blast & clean outside room in showers where water heaters are
Screw floor plate down in Main bar walk-in chiller
Clean out gear container and pack in a tidy organised way
Lights field 3 & Tidy up wiring to all TVs/projectors	Daryn Jones
Stain Deck & paint errors on deck that need attention	Curly
Repairs to the main deck, end panel by the scoreboard, repair runner shelves around inside plus any other building work required inside the club	Kernel
Check all Bar leaner feet downstairs to be used on the dance floor and set up all furniture in the club 2022 Sign to come down above the main downstairs bar
Clear out all hallways/storage cupboards by the strapping room and remove the compressor tidy up that corner push the freezer back

Tukapa Bowls Day

The first ever Tukapa Bowls day was held last Sunday and was played for the Komene Cup.  It was an awesome day with 16 teams entered and the weather turned it on for us.  The winners on the day were the Bishops with a couple of ring-ins throughout the day - well done guys.

Junior Rugby about to hit the mark

Our Junior rugby registrations are going really well and we are just about to hit the “200 kids registered” mark.  Below is from our junior team:

Please get your kids registered for the 2024 season (link below). We are getting team lists together. Some grades are filling fast.

We are looking for more Year 7 players. If you know of any that haven't signed up yet please let them know to do so ASAP. We have coaches that are keen to start training.

Sponsorship Update

This week we look into Riddlez Interactive. Owners Che and Victoria Ridland have been sponsoring Tukapa since 2019 when Grant Paterson was the Chairman of Tukapa and reconnected his link with Rob Ridland from helping out with the Premier Team in the late 90's and 2000's. You will still see Rob doing alot of work for Riddlez but he's not as quick as he used to be. For those of you who are wondering what Riddlez does, you only have to take a look around the Chook House, they are our Graphic and Video content provider. Check out the profile below or visit their website: riddlezinteractive.com

Sponsor Profile: Riddlez

This is a story about a New Plymouth company like no other. Riddlez Interactive is a small New Plymouth company doing things you might struggle to believe. There are just three people involved in the company and they are all Ridlands. There’s Rob Ridland, who is the Asia-Pacific Operations Manager; then there’s his son Ché Ridland, who is the Creative Director and finally there’s Victoria Ridland, the Mutilmedia Manager who is Ché’s wife, which also makes her Rob’s daughter-in-law.
Their office could be described as modest, basically being a converted garage at the front of the Ridland family home in Dartmoor Avenue, but the reality is all they really need are computers to work their magic. And when you become a client of Riddlez Interactive you’ll appreciate the savings they can pass on because they keep their overheads so low. So by now, you’re wondering, just what is it they actually do? And more importantly, what can they do for your business?
Let’s start at the beginning. Ché Ridland is just 36, but he started designing Flight Simulation
products when he was barely 15. “New Plymouth Airport simulation wasn’t that great and I wanted to make it more accurate. I added a lot more detail to it to make it more realistic. ’’
The Boy Wonder certainly did that. He’d indulged his flair for creating design graphics
and animations of a high quality and soon some of the world’s acknowledged experts in the field were taking notice. Ché was on his way. For many of us more mature citizens, 15 seems to be the average age of computer geeks, but now at the ripe old age of 36, Ché and Victoria want to spend more time in New Plymouth and that is good news for the Taranaki business community. Ché and his Canadian wife Victoria have been splitting their time between Vancouver and New Plymouth, but are opting more and more to spread their wings, so to speak, and Taranaki is where they are doing much of their work from.
While Ché is the creative genius behind Riddlez, he is well backed up by Victoria, who manages clients’ online and social media presence and Rob, who ensures the work is done in a timely manner and clients get what was promised – and then some.
He has the ability to think outside the square, the oblong, the circle . . . the list goes on. And
he loves it.
“We’re passionate about developing good quality work, always done in a fun working atmosphere - producing exceptional results on every product and service.’’

The Riddlez team also puts together the Home Game program and more importantly, if you can't make it to the game they produce the clubs Live Stream package for Home Games. Riddlez also puts together our club weekly Newsletter and also designed and manages the club website.

Well time to find my hammer and load the tools for our working bee tomorrow, I will see you there.

Blue and White for Life
Scotty Siffleet

Chairpersons Update

This week was the last week of training before our teams split into their squads for the year. Our premiers will train with a larger squad leading into the Poneke game with the intent of giving some players the chance to push for a permanent spot in the Premiers. I am looking forward to seeing our other squads out there training and we now expect all players to dust their boots off and start coming to training.

Our Woman Premiers have started to get into some contact training, and all look good in their new Blue and White mouthguards. These girls are really impressing me with their want to learn and be a part of a special team. They help each other wherever they can and are really working hard. Wednesday the 13th March we have sorted out a small skills day with coaches coming in to help Plims and Jason so they can split their team into smaller groups to teach the skills needed. So far on the list we have Laurence Corlett, Lisa Appert, Tangi Takie, and our Premier men’s coaches Nathan and Scotty. It is awesome to see all these coaches keen to help out. It's not too late to join the team - turn up on Wednesday at 6:00pm and you will be welcomed with open arms.

Tukapa Lawn Bowls Day

This long weekend sees the second Tukapa Bowls Day being run at Vogeltown Bowls Club on Sunday. If you’re floating around and feel like a beer, come up from 11:00am onwards.

TUKAPA BOWLS DAY DRAW

VOGELTOWN BOWLING CLUB - 10TH MARCH 2024 - 11AM SHARP START

TEAM NAME		Rink	Game 1	Rink	Game 2	Rink	Game 3
	Grace	1		3		5
	Liam Brown	2		4		6
	Wags	3		5		7
	Chook Peters	4		6		8
	Nathan Laurence	5		7		1
	Dan Johanson	6		8		2
	Dan O'Keeffe	7		1		3
	Cam Clout	8		2		4
	Fletcher Smith	1		7		4
	Drew Whitehead	2		8		5
	Jeff Bishop	3		1		6
	Henry Miles	4		2		7
	Josh Hopkins	5		3		8
	Lagen Kumeroa	6		4		1
	Pete Siffleet	7		5		2
	Chris Jollands	8		6		3

Team Training

From Tuesday onwards our Men's teams will be splitting into squads and training as teams. So, if you’ve been waiting to get those boots on, we will see you on Tuesday for Premiers, B’s, and Colts and our Snr 3rds will go for a trot on Thursday all starting at 6:00pm.

Club Working Bee

Next weekend we are running a Chookhouse working bee and have made a list of the jobs we are keen to get done. The idea is that you have a look at the list and put your hand up to help out. The other job we are trying to do this day is to put posts up and also the new lights on field 3 so we are looking for someone who can portable weld and some Sparkies to help Darryn. If you can help out or are keen to do something else that you have seen at the club, get in contact with Dan so we have the right materials on the day to get the jobs done.
Dan Johanson, Club Captain 021 454 685

Chook House Workday

Saturday 16Th March - 9:30 AM Start

JOB	LEAD
Halfway Containers, Clean & Tidy, Paint Inside Top Container, Lay Rubber Flooring, Seats end of field & Posts up	Scott S
All Sheds Cleanout & tidy up	Player or Management from a squad to do their room if available
Refs Room Clean-up & Tidy	DJ
Empty out the old office & lift the carpet	DJ
Front Entrance & Ash’s Stairwell	DJ
Clean up the back stairwell
Run Weed eater around cricket pitch edges & machine blow/brush vacuum around outskirts of the club (glass & rubbish etc)
Clean out behind all 3 bars	Gav
Showers Steam Clean/Water Blast & clean outside room in showers where water heaters are
Screw floor plate down in Main bar walk-in chiller
Clean out gear container and pack in a tidy organised way
Lights field 3 & Tidy up wiring to all TVs/projectors	Daryn Jones
Stain Deck & paint errors on deck that need attention	Curly
Repairs to the main deck, end panel by the scoreboard, repair runner shelves around inside plus any other building work required inside the club	Kernel
Check all Bar leaner feet downstairs to be used on the dance floor and set up all furniture in the club 2022 Sign to come down above the main downstairs bar
Clear out all hallways/storage cupboards by the strapping room and remove the compressor tidy up that corner push the freezer back

Boots Swap

If you are following Tukapa on Facebook or Instagram, you would have seen that we are on the hunt for secondhand rugby boots to give out to our players and help take the cost out of rugby. Outside the club, there is now a blue bin where you can drop off your boots so we can give them out.

Keep an eye out for our boot swap nights as well, where you can bring your old boots in and swap for a bigger size.

Sponsorship Update

This year we have had a massive uptake of sponsors coming on board and can’t thank these people enough for putting their hands up for the first time or for many years. Each week I will try and profile a different sponsor and tell you a little about what they do and how you can support them in their businesses which in turn helps our Club. A couple of weeks ago we featured Lindsay with HTL and I hope some of you have contacted him, which in turn will give our club $100 per person who signs up.

This week we look into NZ Sparky and Dave & Rolley. These lads have been around Tukapa for more years than I have, with them both working for Cast Iron back in the day and doing the maintenance on the club, to now running NZ Sparky which has a lot of strings to their bow.

Sponsor Profile: NZSparky

It has always been a pleasure for Shaun Rohloff and myself to be associated with the Tukapa Rugby Club.
From our first days of playing here, recruited by the master himself Wayne Penn, to the present day where we enjoy being able to give back to the club that gave us so much by being a sponsor for the Senior B's.

At NZSparky, we pride ourselves on excellent service at a reasonable price.
We operate 4 entities under the NZSparky banner which provide the following services:

NZSparky - www.nzsparky.kiwi

• Solar Design and installation.
• New Home, Renovation and Maintenance electrical work.
• Commercial Installations.
• Industrial services.
• Data and Communications.
• TV and Audio Visual.

Taranaki HVAC Supplies - www.taranakihvac.kiwi

HVAC Heating and Cooling Wholesale, Repair and Installation.

Taranaki Appliance Services - www.tasl.kiwi

Appliance Sales and Repairs.

Foundit - www.foundit.kiwi

• Utility Scanning including:
• Underground Cable
• Pipe Locating
• Ground Penetrating Radar
• Liquefaction Reports
• 3D Scanning Reverse Engineering

Please feel free to contact us at any time for an obligation-free quote.

David de Villiers
067534492
david@nzsparky.kiwi
www.nzsparky.kiwi

Club Membership

Along with the increase in living costs, we have also had to put our season memberships up to keep our club ticking, these are now due and can be paid through the links below or over the bar on a Thursday, Friday, or Saturday.

Premier:	$160
Division 1:	$120
Division 2:	$3,000 team fee
Colts:	$120 (or $60 if first year in Colts Grade)
Juniors:	$40 1 child in the family/$70 for 2/$90 for 3 or more in the family
Non-Playing Members (Social Membership):	$50

All memberships may include a partner for an extra $10 per annum which will entitle them to a member’s card and season passes.

Signup buttons below:

Junior Rugby 2024

Junior rugby registrations are now open. If you are keen to sign your kids up, click the link below.

The season kicks off Saturday 4th May and runs to middle of term 3.

If you have any questions, the best place to ask them is on the Tukapa Junior Rugby Facebook page.

Well enjoy your long weekend and remember over the weekend dig those boots out and either drop them at the club or put them on and I will see you this week at training.

Blue and White for Life
Scotty Siffleet

Good afternoon Tukapa supporters, this week I take a week off writing the newsletter and have asked our New Club captain to give you all an update about the upcoming season and to introduce himself. See you all next week for another Chooks news update

Club Captain Report

Welcome to the 2024 season, a change of the guard this year with Daniel Green stepping down as Club Captain and seeing another Daniel (that’s me) take over the role from a great club man in Greeny who has done some great work and left big shoes to fill, whilst I won’t be able to fill the boots Greeny fills on the field with our mighty Senior 3rds I am sure the Club Captain’s shoes I will get into and serve the club with pride & passion along the way.

Many of you will know me from my time as Premier Manager for the last 5 seasons 2019-2023, what some won’t know is that I have a much deeper background with the club & also rugby than just sitting in that role for 5 seasons, I held the position of Team Manager for our Bs 2016-2017, managed Taranaki Development Squad 2018 & 2019 along with management roles with Taranaki Maori also and more recently continue to be on the board of the Tukapa also. Whilst I never got to run on the field as a player I have as much passion for our great club and bleed blue & white just as much as a player does. The club also runs deep in my family with my wife Kerry having played netball in her younger years for Tukapa as well as my youngest son played all his junior rugby for our club also, and hopefully once his time at high school is done he will return to the club as a player, so Tukapa is in my blood.

So with that little introduction being said onto some rugby and where the club is going for 2024, I can tell you that this year should see all of our men’s teams fitter than ever as our Prems management team have had a “Chooks Spartans Challenge” running for the last few weeks which has seen players from across all the squads get involved in this challenge to up the players fitness but also challenged the likes of Coaches, Club Chairman & myself to participate as well. This challenge has set the bar for many of our players which I am sure will see great physical & mental strength added to squads.

2024 will see our newly formed Tukapa Women’s team take to the Women’s competition and after many conversations I’ve had with Coach Plims it is apparent that the coaching team for our women’s squad is dedicated to seeing our Tukapa Women stand with pride in the Blue & White but also get out and enjoy this great game. Look out for the stand-alone facilities for our women turning up at the club in the coming weeks, along with our women taking to the field in the Blue & White

As I sit and write out this for our newsletter after a visit from Scotty asking me for a report we are planning to meet at the club to start to prepare a job list for our upcoming Blue & White Working Bee to get our club ready for the season ahead, and many hands make light work so please stay tuned for the date of our working bee and come lend a hand and help get the Chook-House ready for what I am sure will be a jam-packed season of rugby, friendship, banter & fun.

Well for now best I get back to my day job, don’t be a stranger at the club the doors are always open and the beer is always cold. I look forward to catching up with many of you either on gamedays, at the club, or just wherever I pop up which seems to be many places, always hear for a yarn about anything club-related you want to chat about or want to raise with the board.

Bleeding Blue & White Always
Dan J – Club Captain

Preseason Roundup

Tukapa Lawn Bowls Day

The first big social event for the club will be our Tukapa Lawn Bowls Day held at Vogletown Bowling Club on 10th March. This is a fun day and we want all players, supporters, and friends of Tukapa to be involved in. Teams will be playing for the Komene Cup for the first time. Come and join our Chooks spartan fitness challenge for a fun day of lawn bowls. Our motto this year is all-inclusive to achieve excellence. So be part of this great event - we want all supporters, players, and friends of Tukapa to come and play. Entries to Scotty before Wednesday 28th of Feb by txt 021317331, email scott@lifestylebuilding.co.nz, or message Tukapa's Facebook page.

Club Membership

Along with the increase in living costs, we have also had to put our season memberships up to keep our club ticking, these are now due and can be paid through the links below or over the bar on a Thursday, Friday, or Saturday.

Premier:	$160
Division 1:	$120
Division 2:	$3,000 team fee
Colts:	$120 (or $60 if first year in Colts Grade)
Juniors:	$40 1 child in the family/$70 for 2/$90 for 3 or more in the family
Non-Playing Members (Social Membership):	$50

All memberships may include a partner for an extra $10 per annum which will entitle them to a member’s card and season passes.

Signup buttons below:

Junior Rugby 2024

Junior rugby registrations are now open. If you are keen to sign your kids up, click the link below.

The season kicks off Saturday 4th May and runs to middle of term 3.

If you have any questions, the best place to ask them is on the Tukapa Junior Rugby Facebook page.

Chairpersons Update

Well, we are another week closer to seeing some Blue and White code getting played so we can all go and watch. The guys are now training Tuesdays and Thursdays at 6:00pm and have been working hard. There have been good numbers at training but we are on the hunt for a few more Colts players and also a few more backs club-wide. If you are keen to play, turn up or message our Social pages.

The best news of the week came on Wednesday night when our female team trained and we had 18 ladies turn up and train and also had 6 apologies. They had an awesome training session. With this news, we have now hit “go” on our temporary stand-alone women’s facilities. In the next week, you will see an advert for a paid role for our child care person for the Mums in the team.

At this stage, our ladies' season will be as follows:

Okiawa Pre-season 23rd of March (curtain raiser for Poneke Mens Premier game)
Coastal Pre-season 13th April (Old Timers Day and all teams at home against Coastal)

This is great news to finally be there with our Women’s team. We are still looking for more players so if you are keen, message our socials or turn up Wednesday at 6:00pm.

Tukapa Lawn Bowls Day

The first big social event for the club will be our Tukapa Lawn Bowls Day held at Vogletown Bowling Club on 10th March. This is a fun day and we want all players, supporters, and friends of Tukapa to be involved in. Teams will be playing for the Komene Cup for the first time. Come and join our Chooks spartan fitness challenge for a fun day of lawn bowls. Our motto this year is all-inclusive to achieve excellence. So be part of this great event - we want all supporters, players, and friends of Tukapa to come and play. Entires to Scotty before Wednesday 28th of Feb by txt 021317331, email scott@lifestylebuilding.co.nz, or message Tukapa Facebook page.

Junior Rugby 2024

Junior rugby registrations are now open. If you are keen to sign your kids up, click the link below.

The season kicks off Saturday 4th May and runs to middle of term 3.

If you have any questions, the best place to ask them is on the Tukapa Junior Rugby Facebook page.

Sponsorship Update

Egmont Seeds has been the sponsor of the Tukapa Premiers for the last 5 years and has handed the sponsorship over to another sponsor this year. The club appreciates the support Jock and his team have given the club over many years and we as club members will always think of Egmont Seeds when we have any needs to do with our home gardens.

Our Colts sponsor Gardiner Plumbing also finished its sponsorship term at the end of last season and the club also thanks Shane for his valued support over that term, we as club members will always think of Gardiner Plumbing when we have any need to do with our home piping and gas systems.

2024 Club & Team Sponsorship

Below is an updated list of Sponsors for 2024. Sponsorship is the club's lifeline and as club members, we need to be committed to using their services whenever we can.

Sponsor Profile: The HTL Group

The HTL Group is a Taranaki-based investment and insurance brokerage business operating from offices
in New Plymouth and Inglewood. They have been a sponsor of Tukapa for several years and our current
President, Lindsay Thomson, is a director and investment adviser with the firm.
The HTL Group is keen to further increase its sponsorship of Tukapa and has come up with an
innovative scheme to incentivise Tukapa when players and club members allow The HTL Group to
undertake a review of their KiwiSaver scheme.
‘A lot of people are unsure who their Kiwisaver provider is and whether they are in the right fund. This
will depend on a number of factors including age and whether already own a home. Most people do
not have an adviser for their KiwiSaver scheme and yet the choice of fund and provider can have a
material effect on the capital sum available at retirement” Lindsay says.
By undertaking a review of your KiwiSaver scheme the HTL Group can provide an independent
perspective on fund and provider options. The HTL Group works with 7 different KiwiSaver providers:
Milford, Fisher Funds, ANZ, AMP, Generate, Booster and NZ Funds. However, they are comfortable
reviewing Kiwsaver schemes with other providers as well.
There is no cost for The HTL Group to review your Kiwisaver scheme so if you would like to take up this
option, send your most recent Kiwisaver statement to Lindsay at lindsay@thehtlgroup.co.nz and he
will review your scheme and provide his assessment. Alternatively, give Lindsay a call on 027 226-3699.

Blue and white for life your chairman Scotty Siffleet

Chairpersons Update

Well, it’s been a long time between Newsletters, with the busy days of Christmas out of the way and the month we Tradies take off we are almost back to normal. I will give you a bit of a rundown of what has gone on over the off-season and a preview of where we are at as we start the pre-season training.

First up back in November, the Board put me up for Marist Personality of the Year. I reckon due to the well-written entry from our President Lindsay Thomson, I managed to pick up the award. I'd like to point out we don’t do these jobs for awards but more for the love of the game.

From here we moved on to our Tukapa AGM in late November where we had a really good turnout. Most of you would have seen the minutes from this but the main change is that we say a massive thank you to Daniel Green for being our club captain over the last 4 years, there is a lot of stuff you don’t see that Greenie does for the club and he is always first to put his hand up to help out when asked. The good news is Greenie is still staying on the board and will also hand his Club Captain role over to a current board member and retired Premier Manager Dan Johansen, I am sure that Dan will do a great job and it’s great to still have both these men involved in our Board. The rest of the Executive is as follows:

Patron:	Kevin Curd
President:	Lindsay Thomson (Year 2 of the term)
Vice President:	Bryan Boulton (Year 2 of the term)
Club Captain:	Dan Johansen
Club Administrator:	Jan Holdt
Treasurer:	Tom O’Connor
Junior Convener:	Darryn Jones
Chairman:	Scott Siffleet
Executive Committee:	Reece Hannan
Executive Committee:	Daniel Green
Executive Committee:	Jack DeLuca
Executive Committee:	Liam Bernet

2024 Management Group

This Year I have been very lucky to be able to lock in all our coaches and managers by October which I think has given us a jump on the 2024 season, The following people are our 2024 Management group:

Premiers
Coach:	Nathan Lawrence
Coach:	Scott Fuglistaller
Manager:	Jack DeLuca
Manager	Brendon Bloeman
Club Front Row Coach:	Laurence Corlett
Division 1
Coach:	Hayden Chamberlain
Coach:	Jonathan McLernon
Manager:	Shaun Phillips
Division 2
Coach:	Daniel Green
Coach:	Reece Hannam
Colts
Coach:	Daniel Sinclair
Coach:	Jarrod Werder
Manager:	Trent Theodore
Premier Women
Coach:	Jason Avery
Coach:	Greg Plimmer
Manager:	Vicky McKenzie

Club Membership

Along with the increase in living costs, we have also had to put our season memberships up to keep our club ticking, these are now due and can be paid through the links below or over the bar on a Thursday, Friday, or Saturday.

Premier:	$160
Division 1:	$120
Division 2:	$3,000 team fee
Colts:	$120 (or $60 if first year in Colts Grade)
Juniors:	$40 1 child in the family/$70 for 2/$90 for 3 or more in the family
Non-Playing Members (Social Membership):	$50

All memberships may include a partner for an extra $10 per annum which will entitle them to a member’s card and season passes.

Signup buttons below:

Tukapa Darts

From here we moved into our Tukapa Darts Club Christmas Party, and this was another huge success with a good turnout and a bar taking to match, I thank Jason Clout for being MC for the night and the rest of the Tukapa Darts Members and management for helping to make this night Great

Pre-Season

Moving on to where we are at, in the men’s we have started pre-season training this week and have add really good turnouts to the first two trainings, These are every Tuesday and Thursday at 6pm, Everyone is welcome to these trainings they are made up of Ball skills and fun fitness games. You will see a few new faces running around and over the next few weeks I will introduce these young fellas to you. But we are looking good number-wise across all men’s grades with the only hole being Halfbacks right across the club, So if you’re a halfback or were dust those boots off and get along.

Premier Women

This year as you may have seen we are having a real crack at getting a Women’s Premier team up and running, we have about 14 women keen but need some more players, if you are sitting on the fence or know of some ladies that may be keen please reach out to them, They are playing fun skill game sand touch on every Wednesday at 6pm, please come along and make our dream of a woman’s Premier team come true.

Upcoming Events

The calendar snapshot is as follows:

23nd March	Traditional game Poneke at Tukapa
28th March	Pre-season Against Inglewood at Inglewood
13th April	Season Starts Old Timers Day Vs Coastal at Tukapa

Sponsorship

Our sponsorship team has been working hard to secure sponsorship for the coming season and reports that a lot of our loyal sponsorship support is with us again this year, however, there are still some opportunities to sponsor a 1st XV player so contact Rob Ridland or Scott Siffleet if you or you know someone who would like to take up this opportunity.

An update on this year's sponsors will be included in next week's newsletter.

On the Lookout

The club is on the lookout for a non-rusty 40ft shipping container to cut open for an upcoming project. If you can help us out let Scotty know.

Keep a look out for next Friday’s newsletter with the date of our Club House working bee and list of jobs, and the first of our player profiles.

Blue and white for life your chairman Scotty Siffleet

Chairpersons Update

Full newsletter to follow next week

5 Panel Hats available

Bar prices due to increase

To our loyal members/supporters, we reluctantly advise that the alcohol prices at the club have been increased and are effective immediately.

Whilst we understand that everyone is trying to cope with the increased cost of living, the club is not excluded from this and we must keep abreast of the ever-changing prices the club is incurring. We do our utmost to keep prices as reasonable as possible but in doing so we also must maintain the balance between incoming revenue and outgoing costs.

Your support, as always, is greatly appreciated.

Pre-Season Training

Pre-season for Senior rugby is now underway

Premier Woman Wednesday nights at 6:00pm playing Touch and ball handling drills (bare feet or Cross trainers)

All Men's grades Pre-season Training Thursday 1st & 8th Feb 6:00pm then every Tuesday & Thursday thereafter

Any questions contact Social Media

Junior Committee

We have managed to keep Darryn Jones on as our Junior Convenor as long as we can get some people to help out with a few tasks (e.g. jerseys hand outs and returns and running the sausages and Saturday Mornings at Tukapa). What we are after are half a dozen people not tied up with coaching teams to help run our junior rugby. Many hands make light work.

If you are keen to help out give Darryn Jones a ring or message 027 801 1729

Your chairman Scotty Siffleet, Blue and White for Life

Chairpersons Update

This week we take a week off the chairman’s news but a couple of quick messages

Tickets for our prize giving are now on sale, please use the button below to buy tickets or they will be for sale Monday Night at the club between 3:00pm and 8:00pm from Ash’s bar.

Collective First National Tukapa prize giving 2023 Saturday 22nd July

5:30pm Please be seated
6:00pm Meal served
6:30pm Guest Speaker
7:00pm Awards begin
8:00pm Awards finished
8:30pm Band starts downstairs

$20 a head, $10 for your partner
Dress code smart casual, (No T-shirts, No shorts, No Jandals)

The Bar is open at Tukapa tonight from 3:30 to 6:30pm and Saturday will be open from 11:00am with all live streams on the TV.

Your chairman Scotty Siffleet, Blue and White for Life

Chairpersons Update

It all comes down to this Saturday for our Gardiner Colts.  These boys have worked hard this year and built well on the 2022 season.  The coaching from Zinny and Jared has been first class and the leadership from Patrick Butler cannot be faulted, the man is a true leader and I would follow him to war.

Their season has been up and down this year with losing a couple of games they should’ve won has put them in fourth spot against an in-form Inglewood team.  Their last two hit outs saw Inglewood win 32-15 and 34-12 so our boys need to bring their “A game” and make sure they turn opportunities into points. For our young chooks it will be the biggest game these boys have played in their lives and they need to make sure they give it everything on defence and really need to work as a team. No missed tackles and talking to each other will get them over the line.

What Can We Do To Help?

I remember two key days when our Colts boys have been there for our other teams. Eli hit the nail on the head in the B’S chat and pointed this out. Last year at our away game against Coastal these Colts boys dressed up after their game and the support they gave the B’s & Premiers from the sideline was second to none. Then at Vogeltown last year our Colts had their whole team on the sideline and they did not stop cheering on the B’s.  From there they moved across to the Premier game with the same noise. These young fellas are the true meaning of club culture and now it is our turn to give them back what they gave the other teams.

On Saturday we have a free bus leaving Tukapa at 12.15pm and heading to Inglewood then returning after the game. I challenge all the Premiers, B’s, and 3rds to fill all 40 seats then the Tukapa Blue and White supporters to fill the rest. Nothing would make me happier than to roll into Inglewood with a full bus of true Blue and White supporters to cheer our Colts on. In saying that nothing would look worse than 10 guys stepping off a 50-seater so please don’t let me down. Bar will be open at 11:00am with a free feed to get us started. AS RANGI LIVES LIFE

After the game, Tukapa will also be open.

If you really don’t think you can make it to the sidelines in Inglewood, then the game will be live-streamed on YouTube TRFU CH 3.

Next up is our club prize giving on the 22^nd of July at the chookhouse.  After some feedback, we have changed our format for prize giving.  We will be having a sit-down meal followed by the band THoze Fellas starting at 8.30pm.  The idea is that we get all the players and their partners to the prize giving but we also want to see all the Tukapa supporters as well.  In the past, this hasn’t happened.  So in the next few days, you will get emailed a link to buy your tickets for this and you will also be able to get them from me at the club on a Friday night or Saturday afternoon. The cost will be $20 for yourself and an extra $10 for your partner. Please support this night.

Your chairman Scotty Siffleet, Blue and White for Life