The six-member CIRU Executive Board features a new President (Ashleigh), two females (Ashleigh & Rachel) and also two new members (Rachel & Tereapii).
There was a good turnout to the AGM with a review of the 2020 Season, the elections and a preview of the 2021 Season with lots of exciting rugby activity instore – please see the attachment above.
The popular Rising Stars Schools Rugby Championships is currently in progress with 27 participating teams playing Quick Rip 7s and Rugby 7s – this will finish at the end of this month on Friday 25/06/21.
The Rarotonga Club Season is due to kick-off on Saturday 26/06/21 with an Open Club Family Day that will feature an U19 Rarotonga XV trial match – so watch this space for more rugby news.
Club games and tournaments on Rarotonga attract Cook Islands rugby players – both men and women – from all over the island as well as overseas. We want to promote our young players and to give them as much support as we can – with some famous rugby personalities in support as well.
Eric Rush supporting rugby match officials.
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New Subcommittee formed to lead Women’s Rugby
13 January 2021 – Ashleigh Wihongi-Willis, CIRU Executive Committee member and Vice President of the Arorangi Club, has formed a new committee of Women which will support the efforts of young women who want to play rugby, in all its formats. Their goal is to select a team of Sevens players to play at the Women’s World Rugby championships which will be held in Auckland in September 2021. It is a 15s world championships, but apparently there will be sevens games being held at the same time. We would like to put in a team of women, all from the Cook Islands. This is the goal of this new committee. They would appreciate everyone’s support.
Cook Islands U18 Women 7s win Bowl Final of the World Championship
19 December 2020 – Despite the great involvement and participation by the girls in the Cook Islands Games and the Raro 7s competitions, it must have been heart-breaking to know that due to COVID and their ability to leave our shores due to the lockdowns, they missed out on being in the Cook Islands Under 18 Schools 7s team who won the Bowl Final of the 7s World Cup Championships in Auckland on Saturday 19th December 2020. Although it was a world championship, COVID restricted the event to only New Zealand -based teams. The women’s team performed exceedingly well.
Pool Game 1 – Cook Islands 10 – New Zealand Condors 36 Pool Game 2 – Cook Islands 27 – Niue 5 Pool Game 3 – Cook Islands 22 – NZ Barbarians 10
Bowl Semi Final – Cook Islands 32 – Niue 16 Bowl Final – Cook Islands 24 – NZ Maori 10
The only saving grace for our women players from Rarotonga is that during the recent Raro 7s tournament there were scouts out to check on the talents of those young women who participated in the tournament, and to assess their potential to make a team that may participate in pre-match events in the leadup to the Women’s 15s World Championships to be held in September in Auckland, New Zealand. Another opportunity awaits.
For the girls who participated in this years event, much kudos for their success was obviously due to a very well coordinated preparation for the event. Their planning and scheduling is well recorded in their camp programme which would be a useful guide for any similar event preparation managers to take note of.
Rugby News
Tupapa Panthers U9s & U11s
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Aitutaki U19 Team 2021 announced
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CIRU Annual General Meeting elections held on Monday the 7th June 2021
The new CIRU Executive Board is as follows:
President: Ashleigh Wihongi-Willis
Vice President: Simiona Teiotu
Secretary: William Taripo
Assistant Secretary: Tereapii Tumutoa
Treasurer: Anthony Turua
Assistant Treasurer: Rachel Metuangaro
The six-member CIRU Executive Board features a new President (Ashleigh), two females (Ashleigh & Rachel) and also two new members (Rachel & Tereapii).
There was a good turnout to the AGM with a review of the 2020 Season, the elections and a preview of the 2021 Season with lots of exciting rugby activity instore – please see the attachment above.
The popular Rising Stars Schools Rugby Championships is currently in progress with 27 participating teams playing Quick Rip 7s and Rugby 7s – this will finish at the end of this month on Friday 25/06/21.
The Rarotonga Club Season is due to kick-off on Saturday 26/06/21 with an Open Club Family Day that will feature an U19 Rarotonga XV trial match – so watch this space for more rugby news.
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Club games and tournaments on Rarotonga attract Cook Islands rugby players – both men and women – from all over the island as well as overseas. We want to promote our young players and to give them as much support as we can – with some famous rugby personalities in support as well.
…
New Subcommittee formed to lead Women’s Rugby
13 January 2021 – Ashleigh Wihongi-Willis, CIRU Executive Committee member and Vice President of the Arorangi Club, has formed a new committee of Women which will support the efforts of young women who want to play rugby, in all its formats. Their goal is to select a team of Sevens players to play at the Women’s World Rugby championships which will be held in Auckland in September 2021. It is a 15s world championships, but apparently there will be sevens games being held at the same time. We would like to put in a team of women, all from the Cook Islands. This is the goal of this new committee. They would appreciate everyone’s support.
Cook Islands U18 Women 7s win Bowl Final of the World Championship
19 December 2020 – Despite the great involvement and participation by the girls in the Cook Islands Games and the Raro 7s competitions, it must have been heart-breaking to know that due to COVID and their ability to leave our shores due to the lockdowns, they missed out on being in the Cook Islands Under 18 Schools 7s team who won the Bowl Final of the 7s World Cup Championships in Auckland on Saturday 19th December 2020. Although it was a world championship, COVID restricted the event to only New Zealand -based teams. The women’s team performed exceedingly well.
Pool Game 1 – Cook Islands 10 – New Zealand Condors 36
Pool Game 2 – Cook Islands 27 – Niue 5
Pool Game 3 – Cook Islands 22 – NZ Barbarians 10
Bowl Semi Final – Cook Islands 32 – Niue 16
Bowl Final – Cook Islands 24 – NZ Maori 10
A report on the event from Cook Islands News “Cooks U18s win Bowl Final”
The only saving grace for our women players from Rarotonga is that during the recent Raro 7s tournament there were scouts out to check on the talents of those young women who participated in the tournament, and to assess their potential to make a team that may participate in pre-match events in the leadup to the Women’s 15s World Championships to be held in September in Auckland, New Zealand. Another opportunity awaits.
For the girls who participated in this years event, much kudos for their success was obviously due to a very well coordinated preparation for the event. Their planning and scheduling is well recorded in their camp programme which would be a useful guide for any similar event preparation managers to take note of.