'Bay of Plenty Maori selected for Northern Region Maori Squads'
A number of BOPRU (Te Waiariki) players performed extremely well in the annual Te Hiku O Te Ika Maori tournament with twelve Bay of Plenty Senior players and two colts players being named in Norther Region Maori squads.

The Bay of Plenty Maori Senior Men's team lost a close contest to Auckland Maori 25 - 10 in the final of the hugely popular tournament held at Ardmore Marist on Friday 29 February and Saturday 1 March.

Auckland, Northland, North Harbour, Counties Manukau, Waikato and Bay of Plenty competed in the three competition divisions: Senion Mens (Tane), Womens (Wahine) and Colts (Rangatahi).

This year saw the introduction of the 'Pat Walsh Player of the Tournament Award' that went to Bay of Plenty Maori flanker Dallas Cole, a former BOP Development player.

The Northern Region teams will play a fixture against Central Zone Maori, in what will be an important match up for the players involved.  This will provide a final opportunity to impress NZRU Maori coach Donny Stevenson.

Norther Region Colts Squad:Haimona Brown
Curtis Van der Heyden

Norther Region Senior Mens Squad:James McGougan
Daniel Schuster
JP Pareanga
Aidan Kuka
Dallas Cole (Player of the Tournament)
Colin Bourke
Glen Martin
Marty Bourke
Corey Aporo
Lance MacDonald
Quentin Gardner
Jason Hona
Not considered because of injury: Rena Schuster

For more information, please contact:
Mike Rogers
Rugby Development Manager
E: mike@boprugby.co.nz
M: 0294 784 292