Six from six for TVC in East Coast men's club rugby
It appears not much can stop TVC in 2025.
The unbeaten Tihirau Victory Club beat Ūawa 29-24 to defend the Jury Harrison Memorial Cup and George Keelan Memorial Shield at Matariki weekend, while the TVC women won a thriller 26-24 against Waiapu.
TVC's sixth straight win consolidated their place at
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Rugby: Heartland warm-up for Ngāti Porou East Coast in Napier tomorrow
Fresh from the naming of their 2025 Heartland Championship squad this week, Ngāti Porou East Coast will blow out the cobwebs in Napier on Saturday. The Sky Blues, once again coached by 2003 Kaupoi and 82-game Poverty Bay player Kahu Tamatea, face Central Hawke's Bay on Tremain Field from 2pm.
NZ Herald
29-07-2025
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History-making King of the Coast win to William Brown at Tolaga Bay
Brown, the Queenstown-based former Poverty Bay head greenkeeper, turned Sunday into 'a day of best'. Having admitted to being 'a bit rough' on the Saturday in beating Kawerau's T.K. Whata 5 and 4 in round one and Auckland-based Waikohu member David Solomann on the first extra hole in the afternoon quarter-finals, after 'Solly' had birdied the 18th, Brown flicked the switch on Sunday. He needed to. His semifinal opponent was Marcus Lloyd, a quality left-hander and New Zealand Māori Golf stalwart from Bay of Plenty's Springfield course. Brown saw off Lloyd 2 and 1 in what turned into a history-repeating day in several ways. Last year, Brown also beat Lloyd in the semis – on the first hole of a sudden-death playoff – and just like 2024, it set up an all-Brown final against good mate Hukanui Brown. Patutahi's Brown – the KotC champion in 2019 – saw off Poverty Bay's Tony Akroyd (sinking a 10m birdie putt on the second extra hole) and Mahia's Wade Wesche to advance to a semifinal against Ōpōtiki's Micky Huriwaka, who in round one played his 15-year-old son Elijah in a tournament for the first time ... and won on the 17th. Huriwaka was 2-up with two holes to play, only for Brown to birdie the 17th and par the 18th to take it to extra holes, eventually winning on the 20th after Huriwaka three-putted. William Brown turned up the heat in the final of the King of the Coast, winning seven holes in a row to beat Hukanui Brown on the 12th hole. Photo / Paul Rickard Heading into the final, William Brown was well aware he was a victory away from exclusivity. He won the first two holes against his fellow Tairāwhiti representative, then Hukanui got one back, but that hint of a comeback was obliterated from the sixth hole on. William Brown won seven holes on the trot, four of those with birdies, in a Mike Tyson-like blitz that not only underlined his sovereignty over the KotC, but stamped an exclamation point on it. 'The second day was a whole lot different,' he said, estimating he was 5-under over the two rounds. Brown has great respect for golfing history and was elated to have made his own. He plans to add to it too, although the Poverty Bay Open in September could be his only chance for the rest of 2025. A greenkeeper at the Jack's Point course (he plays pennants golf for Cromwell), Brown is set to move into an irrigation technician role. With that is the opportunity to go to the Australian Open at Royal Melbourne. Unfortunately, that is the same week as the men's national Interprovincial, which Brown has competed at for Poverty Bay-East Coast and now Tairāwhiti for 16 consecutive years. This year would have seen him join an elite club of players to have clocked up 100 national Interprovincial matches. Brown is confirmed for the P.B. Open, but is unlikely to make the East Coast Open at Te Puia Hot Springs in November due to work. In other results from the KotC, Regan Hindmarsh (Patutahi) won the Cook Handicap second 16; B.J. Sidney (Tolaga Bay) the Ūawa Handicap third 16; and Max Ratana (Kawerau) the Hauiti Handicap fourth 16. The tournament was played in perfect weather on a course that received high praise from everyone, including the champion. Brown said it was 'the best I've seen it in my time'. Meanwhile, two of the players in the tournament will be shifting their focus to Heartland rugby. Huriwaka and Sidney were this week named in the Ngāti Porou East Coast squad for the Heartland Championship, which starts on August 16. The NPEC squad also features loan player Sheridan Rangihuna, who played national interprovincial golf for Poverty Bay-East Coast in 2011.
NZ Herald
04-07-2025
- NZ Herald
Ngati Porou East Coast club rugby semifinals on Saturday
11.30am: Te Kura Mana Māori o Whangaparāoa, Tikirau Victory Club v Hikurangi (Joe Coleman, Jimmy Green, Katarina Haerewa). Uawa are the dark horses. And with the knockout semifinals of the Heke-o-Te-Rangi Blackbee Contractors Ngāti Porou East Coast (NPEC) men's club competition all go on Saturday, they could not be travelling to face a bigger challenge than the No 1 qualifiers – Tihirau Victory Club. Top seeds TVC are hosting No 4-ranked Ūawa at Te Kura Mana Māori o Whangaparāoa – the same venue they met at in round-robin play, with TVC winning 29-24. The other semi features No 2 Tokararangi, at their Kawakawa Mai Tawhiti base, against No 3 Waiapu. Ūawa's 'Big Blue Crew' go in with a record of four wins and three losses this season, the most recent of those a 64-0 overwhelming by Tokararangi. TVC began their campaign with a 33-13 win against reigning champions Waiapu, and it set the tone for a perfect run to the semis, although they were pushed all the way in games against Tokararangi (19-18 in week 4) and Ūawa. TVC are the only team this season to have beaten Tokararangi, who won five games and drew 34-all with semifinal opponents Waiapu, who won four games and lost two. A 36-24 win over Hikurangi a fortnight ago, in which player-coach Israel Brown scored a hat-trick of tries, and last weekend's drubbing of Ūawa have given Tokararangi momentum. And it is that ability to come into form at the right time, to peak and produce in the semis, that influential players crave. Waiapu led Ruatōria City 16-10 in last year's final before winning the Rangiora Keelan Memorial Shield 19-18. From top to bottom, they, like their player-coach Perrin Manuel and captain Richard Green, are physical and experts at set-piece play. Green is a top lineout forward, as is Dyllyn Evans of Tokararangi. The battle for lineout supremacy will be an interesting one, but of even more interest will be the teams' tactics. Will they favour ball in hand or look to pin the opposition in their own half by means of the boot? Heading into the semis, NPEC chief executive LeRoy Kururangi had a clear and timely message for the Sky Blue rugby community. 'We just need to remind everyone that our referees are human and remind the supporters not to become wayward,' he said. The Enterprise Cars NPEC women's club game between Ruatōria City and Tokararangi will be a milestone one for City players Harmony Mangu and Rena-Deane Goldsmith – their 20th caps for City. Meanwhile, it is a huge weekend of rugby at home and away for Ngāti Porou players. Props Jared Proffit and Kershawl Sykes-Martin, local Isaia Walker-Leawere and openside flanker Jahrome Brown are in the Māori All Blacks starting 15, while halfback Kemara Hauiti-Parapara is on the bench for their game against Scotland on Saturday. Gisborne-born-and-bred Fergus Burke has been named among the back reserves for Scotland for the 3.35pm clash in Whangārei. The 1.05pm curtain-raiser – a 58-player World Cup trials game between the Black Ferns and Black Ferns XV – will also feature Ngāti Porou and Gisborne-connected players. Tokararangi's Jordyn Tihore, now playing for Whakarewarewa in Rotorua, is on the bench for the Black Ferns XV, who will have Gisborne's Kelsey Teneti starting at centre. Gisborne's Renee Holmes is on the bench for the Black Ferns.
