Panch's Post

26 February 2010

Welcome to my fiorst post for 2010. This year is significant for Sunshine Coast Rugby as it signals the unification of our Seniors, Juniors and Representative Rugby under one entity. This move allows rugby on the coast to join together as one team, creating one pathway to be Sunshine Coast's favorite sport in 2010.

This weekend's rugby kicks off tonight with the Stingrays at home playing Townsville at Maroochydore rugby fields at Cotton Tree in Round 2 of the Country Championships. Kick off for Colts is 4.00pm and Seniors at 6.00pm. It comes after the Stingrays trip to Hervey Bay where both the Colts and Seniors beat spirited and strong sides from the Darling Downs. The final scores 33-19 in the Seniors and 16-14 in the Colts.

The Country Championship games have been scheduled at our local club grounds so as to highlight where the rugby pathway begins for our local players. It is a great initiative from SCRU to spread the game to our local constituent regions. By the size of the crowd that attended the Hervey Bay fixture it looks like a winner. Hopefully it will become permanent fixture in the future.

For rugby lovers the weekend of rugby rolls on with the Maroochydore Sun Surf Sevens hosted by the Maroochydore Rugby Union Club at the Cotton Tree rugby fields starting Saturday morning. The tournament will show case our local teams and teams from Brisbane. It is a one day event that starts at 10am and finishes around 5.30pm Saturday. Festivities will continue at the conclusion of the rugby with a live band, planned events, and a live feed of the Reds vs. Auckland Blues. .

Following on from the sevens theme, its great to see two local Sunshine Coast Schools feature prominently at the inaugural Brisbane Invitational Secondary Schools Sevens Tournament held at Ballymore last week. Unfortunately both teams were knocked out in the quarter finals but with the likes of Nudgee and Ipswich Grammar being represented it was a fair showing from Sunshine Coast Grammar and Sienna. 

With sevens being included in the 2016 Olympics we are going to be hearing more about these kinds of tournaments in the years to come. For those youngsters planning on Olympic glory take note of the SCRU Primary schools 7's tournament which is scheduled for the 5th of March. For more info please contact Doug Toms from SCRU.

A date for your diaries - Caloundra Lighthouses are organising a game at Lighthouse Park on the 24th April between Australian Navy (Old Boys) and a Caloundra Lighthouse invitational side. Rumor has it former Wallaby Players Toutai Kefu, Daniel Herbert and David Croft will be supporting the event for the Lighthouses. A source close to the three confirmed that they have requested KFC as their appearance fees.

Lastly how good is it to see the Queensland Reds back in the winners circle. After two very credible performances it would appear the faithful finally have something to crow about. This weekend of Super Rugby returns to the traditional home of Rugby "BALLYMORE". I am ecstatic the REDS have returned to Ballymore, and for those of you lucky enough to get tickets to the game it will be a superb experience. Enjoy

Finally for any information on what's happening with Rugby on the Sunshine Coast; check out our website at www.scru.com.au .

Yours in Rugby
Glen Panoho

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