NAVY AND NORTH SHORE CEMENT RUGBY RELATIONSHIP

Royal New Zealand Navy rugby and the North Shore Rugby Club have joined forces in a formal relationship, ensuring Navy rugby players have a home in the North Harbour Rugby Union competition.

Both Navy Rugby and the club have rich sporting heritages in their own right, but in present times the Navy has found it increasingly difficult to field a team to play in the North Harbour Rugby Union competition. This has meant that Navy Rugby players have had to find other clubs to play for.

Recently representatives from both Navy Rugby and the North Shore Rugby Club agreed to enter into a formal relationship to harness their collective strengths, whereby Navy players can play their rugby at North Shore and have access to competitive rugby, quality coaching and identified pathways to promotion. For North Shore, this relationship means they will continue to benefit from an influx of committed and dedicated rugby players from the Navy Base.

This contemporary approach is providing current, and future, Navy players (men and women) with exposure to higher quality rugby on a weekly basis. This will ultimately make Navy rugby stronger as shown by last month’s results where the Navy men’s team defeated Air Force and Army to win the Inter-Services competition.

Photos: Deputy Chief of Navy, Commodore Andrew Brown and North Shore Rugby President, Sir Wayne Shelford, at the Vauxhall (Devonport) Domain for the North Shore versus Helensville fixture.

Following North Shore’s 78-3 win over Helensville, CDRE Brown poses with Navy rugby players in their North Shore kit. From left, ALSS Kaleb Harema, LDR Trent Luka and AMT(L) Tristen Read.