Otago Rugby Union eNewsletter

Editorial

Hello everyone and welcome back to our rugby newsletter!

It's go time people, club rugby is back!!! Prepare those vocal chords and get out and about to cheer on your lads & lasses paddock side this weekend. Central and Metro Women's kicked off last weekend and round 1 of the Southern & Metro comp takes place this weekend! You can check out the draw by clicking HERE, get out there and show your support!

Dunedin's getting a Test Match and this presents an awesome opportunity for our 2025 Otago Rugby Season Members. 2025 members that purchase their membership prior to the Test Match going on sale, are also able to purchase Test tickets with their membership guaranteeing they won't miss out! Memberships are on sale now.

The 2025 NPC & FPC Draws are out! Scroll down to check out our Home Games, or check out the full Draws here… FULL NPC DRAW, FULL FPC DRAW.

New Referees.... WE NEEED YOU! We have a serious rugby referee shortage in Otago, and New Zealand. This is a rugby problem and we need more referees now more than ever. If you are passionate about rugby and want to BE IN THE GAME then please offer to pick up the whistle and help solve this shortage in our community. You don't need to have experience to start your refereeing journey, the friendly team at Otago Rugby Referees Association - Inc will give you all the support and training you need to succeed. If you want to register as a referee, assistant referee or referee coach click on this link HERE.

Calling all Junior Rugby Coaches!!! You'll want to make sure that you've attended the required Small Blacks course. Scroll down below to see Small Blacks course dates for your area or if you have questions reach out to michael.smith@orfu.co.nz.

Scroll down for more rugby news and announcements like development opportunities, weekly happenings, rugby courses and more…

ODT Interesting Reads!

The ORFU Annual General Meeting was held at Kaikorai RFC on Wednesday night. We are happy to have Peter McCormack reappointed and welcome back John Latta as he rejoins the Board as the Otago Country Rugby Board representative. We also welcome Emma Hodgkin who has been appointed as a new director. Emma brings governance experience from involvement in the health, education and sporting sectors, including having been the CEO of Canterbury Hockey, a director of Canterbury Cricket and involved in commercial and strategy roles with New Zealand Rugby, Netball New Zealand and Mainland Football.

We also welcome Kelvin Collins and Paul Hessian who were appointed to the board selection panel.

We thank our outgoing directors, Sarah Middleton and Leanne Ross for their time, support and guidance.

We welcome ORFU ex President Roy Daniels as our newest Life Member, recognising his significant contribution to rugby in Otago.

You can read the 2024 Otago Rugby Annual Report HERE

On Thursday our women & girls lead Aria, along with Otago Spirit player Bella Rewiri-Wharau and Otago Academy player Charlotte Williams paid a visit to Taieri College to check out their Year 7/8 Girls Rugby as they prepare for the upcoming Spirit Sisters Monday night Girls ONLY Tackle in term two. These girls have never played tackle rugby before but are keen as mustard to give it a go! Thanks for having us girls! Get your friends together and throw a seed around. Stay tuned to our Socials for more info, the future of women's/girls rugby is looking bright!