Please send us all news of current and past University players to : info@aurfc.co.nz Become a fan

John Drake Memorial Scholarship Reception
The University of Auckland, and in conjunction with the Auckland University Rugby Football Club, is pleased to invite you to a reception in support of the John Drake Memorial Scholarship on Friday 9 October.
This new scholarship will bring one talented recipient each year to study at the University, and also to play for the University Club. As such, it is a most fitting means of commemorating the all-round achievement of one our most outstanding alumni, the late John Drake (B. Com 1981), University senior team member, Auckland representative, World Cup winning All Black prop, and latterly businessman and sports commentator until his untimely death last December at the age of 49.

This scholarship is at heart a recognition that there is a special link between the Club and the University, one that I am personally delighted to see being re-kindled in this manner. It is not just about playing rugby and studying, but more about creating an environment where those who are committed to achieving excellence in all walks of life can develop characteristics important to both John Drake and the University - individuality, team spirit, determination, balance and humility.

Latest results for the University Interfaculty Rugby Tournament. 23rd September

- Ernst & Young Commerce Cougars 6 v Mighty River Power Engineering Eagles 11 (Extra time)
Commerce lost their undefeated record in the weekend. Very strong running from commerce centre was not enough to get them home. The scores were tied up at 6 all come full-time.
A try in the corner by the Eagles number 7, which really should have been viewed upstairs, gave the Engineering lads a victory they savour.

- Seager & Partners Property Pirates 21 v Martelli McKegg Law 43
Fantastic to see AURFC Premier player Michael Peters scoring two good tries in a easy win for the law boys.

The Future of Varsity Rugby
Congratulations to Sam Johnson (left) and Max Phillips
from the University U13 team who have been playing for
the Auckland East U13 /U45kg team.
The team played 5 games including pre season games
and only lost one game to North harbour in the final.
Total points 227 for and 26 against.

Well done Sam and Max, the club is very proud of you.

Varsity HARD!

Congratulations
Gareth Arlidge has been moved up into the Auckland A team from the Bs. Good to see that there is still a pathway to the top for an honest player.
Hopefully we will see the Varsity lad get some game time.

University of Auckland Interfaculty Rugby
The inaugural UoA Interfaculty rugby tournament that is currently being held at Colin Maiden Park has been a ragging success. Every game is played with great spirit and honest.
Even the skill set has been of a good standard. Each battling to play in the final to contest the Wilson Whineray Cup be held on the 10th of October at the home of University rugby, Colin Maiden Park.

The five faculty teams and sponsors are;
Ernst & Young Commerce Cougars
Mighty River Power Engineering Eagles
Seager and Partners Property Pirates
Martelli McKegg Wells & Cormack Law
Drake Medicine

The major sponsor of the tournament is the National Bank of New Zealand.

Commerce remain the team to beat at this stage. Engineering were seeded as the No. 1 team prior to the competition commencing but were
upset by Law in the latest round of games. A recreation of the 2009 Heineken Cup Final was played out at Colin Maiden Park, after Law and Engineering were still tied after extra time. In the end Law won in the 'kick off' which was the best of five kicks in front of the posts on the 22.

Do not miss the next three weeks of true Varsity rugby. Games kick off at 1.00pm and 3.00pm.

The bar will be open.

The previous results are;
15th August 2009
- Ernst & Young Commerce Cougars 13 Martelli McKegg Law 0
- Drake Medicine 13 Mighty River Power Engineering 17

22 August 2009
- Seager and Partners Property 6 v Ernst & Young Commerce Cougars 32
- Martelli McKegg Law 5 v Drake Medicine 19

19 September 2009
- Seager and Partners Property 16 v Drake Medicine 18
- Martelli McKegg Law 12 v Mighty River Power Engineering 12 (Law wins on penalties kicks 3 - 1)

The upcoming games are;
26 September 2009
- Ernst & Young Commerce Cougars v Mighty River Power Engineering Eagles
- Seager & Partners Property Pirates v Martelli McKegg Law

30 September 2009
- Ernst & Young Commerce Cougers v Drake Medicine
- Seager and Partners Property Pirates v Mighty River Power Engineering Eagles

Auckland Emerging Team
Congratulations to John Vea for making the 2009 Auckland Emerging team.

AURFC Prize Giving 2009
Congratulations to the recepients of the following awards presented at the Varsity prize giving on the 8th of August.

Premier Alan Tohill Memorial Cup for Most Outstanding Forward Francis Smith
Premier John Gillett Memorial Trophy for Most Outstanding Back Pasila Wilson
Premier Hank Schubert Cup for Sportmanship Pauliasi Manu

Reserves Richard Osborn Memorial Trophy for Best & Fairest Pule Vili (Tana)
Reserves Dean Paddy Finnegan Trophy for the 'Player of the year' Samson Havea

U85 A.J. Park Trophy for the Best Restricted Team Lions
U85 Bob Burns Trophy for the Most Improved U85 Player Nick Smith (Shooters)
U85 Barbarians Best & Fairest Scott Carstens
U85 Legends Best & Fairest Jamie McLagan
U85 Lions Best & Fairest Brad Kirner
U85 Shooters Best & Fairest Tim Gibbs

U21 Richard Cochrane Memorial Cup For Best & Fairest Junior Manase
U21 Morrie Dingwall Memorial Trophy Most Outstanding Player Rhema Sagote
U21 The Peter Trevana Memorial Trophy Club & Team Contribution Charles Urry

U19 Coaches & Managers Trophy for Best & Fairest Simon Underwood
U19 Gary Davies Memorial Trophy for Most Improved Junior Player Spencer Raymond

2009 AUCKLAND COLTS REPRESENTATIVE TEAM

Congratulations to the following Varsity players for making the Auckland Under 20 team.

Sean Polwart
James Semple
Grayson Schiphorst
Howard Sililoto

Sean Polwart is among the 29 players selected in the 2009 Auckland Colts squad.

Varsity Shooters Trophy Cabinet Full
The new U85 boys at Varsity are building a new trophy cabinet at their Colin Maiden Park clubrooms after collecting the Colin Maiden Shield, Speights Plate and another plate trophy for winning their respective grade. Shooters Captain Tim 'Godfather' Gibbs was in tears after the game, praising all the hard work his lads have put in during a long hard season. It has been a traumatic 12 months for the Shooters, after not knowing if the team would even have a home for the 2009 season and now to collect all the silverware was just too much for the young lad to handle. Though the dream did not finish there for young Timmy, at the Varsity 'Grammys (but on a bigger scale)' prize-giving, he picked up the Best & Fairest award for his team.

Congratulations to the Shooters and condolences to Andy Summerville's Legends who were on the losing side in the final played at Colin Maiden Stadium.

Varsity Rugby: The home were U85 rugby dreams come true.

Click HERE to see the photos from the final.

2009 Auckland Rugby Development Team:
The following players have been selected in the 2009 Auckland Rugby Development Team:

Forwards
Kieran Williams (University)

Backs
Gareth Arlidge (University)
Brad Linklater (University)

Ormrod to the Naki
Congratulations to Premier halfback David Ormrod for being selected to play for Taranaki in the 2009 Air New Zealand Cup.

2009 Air New Zealand Cup Auckland Squad:
Congratulations to the following Varsity men who have made the Auckland squad;

Pauliasi Manu (University)
Francis Smith (University)
Andrew Van der Heijden (University)
Jamie Helleur (University)
Teddy Stanaway (University)

Bold – indicates new players to the Auckland squad.

Wanted 2009/10 7s Coach for AURFC
Sevens rugby at Auckland University Rugby Football Club (AURFC) has grown tremendously in popularity since it's inaugural year in 2008 and is an exciting new chapter in Varsity rugby. The club is looking for a specialist or a knowledgeable Sevens coach for 2009/10 summer season.

Please contact:
AURFC Director of Rugby: Robert Taylor
Robert.Taylor@aurfc.co.nz
09 528 0688

Cambridge Seen As Springboard For International Career
Cambridge University is the next challenge for outstanding scholar, thespian and sportsman Tom Elton following his selection as the Girdlers’ Scholar for 2009.

The former Westlake Boys High School pupil & University Under 21 fullback is currently studying at the University of Auckland, having won a scholarship to attend that institution, and will fulfil a long-held ambition to study economics at Cambridge when he takes up his Girdlers’ award later this year.

Administered by the NZ Vice-Chancellors’ Committee, the Girdlers’ Scholarship is funded by the Worshipful Company of Girdlers which traces its foundation back to medieval times as a craftsmen’s guild. The award is worth a minimum of £20,000 and enables a “distinguished New Zealand school pupil” to undertake a degree course at Cambridge’s Corpus Christi College.

The University club wishes Tom all the best and look forward to keeping a close eye on his progress.

What a Saturday!
University grinded out a gritty 10-6 victory over Grammar Carlton on Saturday to assert themselves as a major title contender in this year’s competition.
The match was billed as a blockbuster as the second and third placed teams went head to head, and it failed to disappoint with both teams refusing to give an inch in a brutal encounter.
Grammar Carlton controlled the wealth of possession and territory in the first half, first five eighths Ash Moeke steering his team around the park superbly with a well executed kicking game.
But they were unable to match University up front with the intimidating front row trio of John Afoa, Francis Smith and Pouliasi Manu dominating at scrum time to win a number of Grammar Carlton feeds.
Moeke kicked two penalties early in the game to give his side a 6-0 lead, and Grammar Carlton’s aggression at the breakdown reaped rewards with University unable to gain any fluidity in attack.

But it was a different story in the second half, University first five eighths James Semple nailing a drop goal within a minute of play resuming as his team looked to fight back.
The match continued to be a tightly fought contest as both teams threw everything at their opponents, but the game breaker came with 12 minutes to go as Semple threw a brilliant cut out ball to Brad Linklater who got outside his man and offloaded to Pasila Wilson who dived over in the corner.Trailing 10-6, Grammar Carlton rallied in the final minutes and were desperately pressing the University line for a try.
A charged down kick five metres out almost resulted in a five pointer to the visitors but University eventually repelled them to run out deserved victors.

University head coach Murray Helleur was rapt with his team’s performance.
“I’m absolutely ecstatic with that,” Helleur said. “That’s our first eighty minute performance which was our first goal and the second goal was actually winning. “We knew it was going to a brutal game so we prepared hard for these guys and I’m just absolutely stoked we won,” he said.

Grammar Carlton flanker Dean Budd, returning to the side after a couple of weeks out on duty with the Blues, said the game was lost up front.
“It was back and forth the whole time but they were strong at set piece which is where we lost the game I’d have to say. “(University lock) Andrew Van der Heijden was good at lineout time and their classy front row just really got on top of us from scrum one so we couldn’t get any clean ball to our backs.“We struggled to convert our opportunities, we created a lot but we just couldn’t finish them off which has cost us the game.”

Thank you to Graham Henry(University Gallaher Shield winner 74 & 84) for speaking with the Varsity players prior to the game.

Univesity 10 (P Wilson try, B Linklater con, J Semple d/goal) Grammar Carlton 6(A Moeke 2 pen) Halftime: 6-0

Pollard Cup Final 43 - 0 v Suburbs
Congratulations to the University Premier team for collecting the first piece of silverware this year. In a very convincing win over Suburbs at Colin Maiden Park.
The Mighty Blues raced to a 30 - 0 lead at halftime with Michael Peters, Mapa Tuipolotu, James Semple, Mike Toko and Priscilla Wilson all dotting over in great fashion.
In the second half Brad Linklator added two penalties and a brillant individual try with a consolation conversation for Donny Latu.

Another Mighty Blue in theBlues

Well done to Andrew Vander Heijden(pictured) who has been alleviated(some might say) to
Super Rugby for the Blues during the latter part of the competition. Just another talented
Varsity man being selected for higher honors.

Ramrod Chronicles of New Zealand University Tour 2009: Return of the Rod

Ended up beating hong kong 33-0 on an artificial turf. was a pretty good game, still a little hot for comfort though. That night proved to be a landmark in its own, hitting the streets of Hong Kong.

After a rough flight we moved on to Japan, who are being amazing hosts. Played a selection of professional rugby players yeasterday and lost 31-30. we were wining with 5 mins to go, which was quite disapointing. Very weird game, quite messy, but they were very strong in the rucks and mauls. Had a court session last night so have slept the day away. Also ended up going to a karaoke bar...$60nz all you can drink. I think its fair to say that everyone got their fair share. Including overloading the lift and dropping down half a floor...not a good experience. though we were going to be stuck in there for a while.
That pretty much sums up the trip so far...last game on Saturday and then fly home Sunday morning.

Stoked the boys pulled through in the weekend. Wish them luck from us this weekend.

Varsity hard

Love Rod.

Dave 'Ramrod's' New Zealand University Tour Diary Entry.

Dear University,
Sorry about the late reply, but we thought we would flick you what we are up.

Malaysia was pretty mean, flew in pretty late with a game the next day. In the very hot and humid conditions we played the Malaysian International Team for the first 40 and then a Sarageta Club invitational team.
We raced to an early lead and managed to build this into a 88-10 win.

That night proved to an experience in its own. Starting at the club we moved to the Beach Club in Kuala Lumpur city centre, it's got nothing on our sponsors pub 'THE BELGIUM BEER CAFE' however the ladies there were a little too friendly and on further inspection, we found that every single one was soliciting our fine company, then..............

Markets have been great, buying up all the cheap imitation gear, only thing is the bloody pushy stall owners, they grab your arms and block you in their stores, getting rough with them is the only way to get the hell out.

We play the Hong Kong national team tonight on astroturf, should be a fast game, the temperature is in the 30's with 80% humidity.

Tomo. Kez and myself miss you all dearly.

Good luck for this weekend.

Love Ramrod.

Player Network

If you are on Facebook, join the University rugby group. Keep in touch with your old Varsity teammates. We want to build a huge network!!

New Zealand University Team

The unique thing about playing at the University club, is the possibility of being selected for the New Zealand University team. Each year they tour overseas or play a touring team in New Zealand. Back in 1950 they even beat the touring Springboks.

Congratulations to the following Auckland University players who will be touring Asia with the 2009 New Zealand University Team.
- Kieran Williams (Te Aroha College)
- David Ormrod (New Plymouth Boys High)
- Thomas 'The Tank' Vaughan (Westlake College)

Unable to travel:
- Andrew Vander Heijden (Auckland Grammar School)

On stand by:
- Brad Linklator (Whangarei Boys)
- James Semple (Sacred Heart College)

Raising Tongan Star - Sonny Halanukonuka (Tamaki College)

Teddy Stanaway Selected for New Zealand Under 20s

Congratulations to Teddy (pictured) for being selected for the New Zealand team. Teddy was very thankful for the support the University club has given him while moving from St Kentigerns College in 2007. Playing the majority of the 2008 season with the Under 21 team and playing a handful of Premier games at the end the season, it was evident the young man has the class to play representative rugby.

Former Player News

Former Varsity, NZU and Poverty Bay hooker/flanker Dr Chris Fougere and his four mates won a three year battle to get permission to build a café at Piha. Nice one Chris!

Player News - International - Roddy Grant

Congratulations to Roddy Grant who made his professional debut for Edinburgh Gunners in the Magners league last Friday. The following is taken out of a Scottish newspaper.

"As part of his rehabilitation Grant, the current Scotland sevens captain, spent last summer playing in New Zealand thanks to a scholarship award."

"Paying tribute to the family who made the bequest in memory of John Macphail, a former Scotland hooker, Grant, pictured below, said: "To play eight successive matches for an Auckland University club who have a record of producing the second highest total of All Blacks helped my development enormously."

"One of the main attractions for Grant is learning from coach Andy Robinson who represented England in the same open-side position of the back row. And the admiration is mutual with Robinson remarking: "You can tell a lot from body language, the way you carry yourself. You wouldn't have known it was Roddy's first start in the league. The way he stepped in seamlessly was class."

Player News - International - Andrea Pozzi

Andrea Pozzi having played at AURFC in 2008 has made a very successful return to Italy. He is now playing professionally in Noceto a small city near Parma. Andrea has the unique distinction of playing for U19s, U21s, Reserves and the Premier side all in one season.

Player News - Michael Hobbs

Michael Hobbs who was drafted to the Blues has aligned himself with the best club in Auckland.

Hobbs, a New Zealand Schools and Under-19 representative, played mainly as a super sub for Wellington this year. He looks to be a bright talent for the future. He is the only player drafted in by the Blues for the 2009 competition. Son of New Zealand Rugby Union Chairman and former All Black Jock Hobbs.

The University Club wishes Michael all the best for his stint in Auckland.

Player News - Sevens - Mapa Tuipolotu

Congratulations to Mapa Tuipolotu for making the Auckland Sevens squad.

Player News

At the ARFU prize giving, Daniel Braid picked up two awards;

• ARFU Supporters Club Player of the Year
• ANZC Defensive Player of the Year

Congratulations to the following players who were selected for the 2009 Blues Squad;

• Jamie Helleur
• John Afoa
• Jerome Kaino

Well done to Franco Smith who was ARFU High Performance Academy Player of the Year.

And, to a former University Player, lock Andrew van der Heijden was named Counties Manukau rugby player of the year.

Player News - Past

Former Varsity, Auckland and NZU lock Paul O’Shannessey was in the Sunday Star-Times promoting his online clearing house www.thedeal.co.nz with his wife Kelly. Osh played two games for Auckland and won hundreds of lineouts for Varsity.

1992 Varsity Under 21 midfielder Blair Strang (of Shortland Street fame) was awarded Metro magazine’s Outstanding Arts performance for his role in Massive Company’s Whero’s New Net.

2008 AURFC Representative Players

• Dave Ormrod, Auckland Colts
• Teddy Stanaway, Auckland Colts
• Jamie Helleur, Auckland
• Pauliasi Manu, Auckland
• Franco Smith, Northland
• Brenton Helleur, Northland
• Paula Fakautoki, Auckland Emerging
• Mapa Tuipulotu, Auckland Development
• James Semple, Auckland Colts
• Sione Fifita, Auckland Colts
• Chris Mahoney, Auckland Development
• Chris Heard, Auckland Blues
• Daniel Braid, Auckland Blues, All Blacks
• Jarek Goebel, Auckland Blues
• John Afoa, Auckland Blues, All Blacks
• Jerome Kaino, Auckland Blues, All Blacks