Mercantile Squash
Round 3 of Mercantile consisted of two very close matches and 2 strong wins. Points are being collected fast and the teams are starting to spread on the points table. Round 4 is played this Friday, after which we will take a brief break for Bill Meek Memorial Club Weekend. Results:

Pickering Cabinet Makers bt. PGG Wrightsons 13-12 (+1 bonus point on count back)
Farmlands bt. AFFCO Stingers 15-6
Slort Sports bt. The Wishing Stars 18-6
Pensioners bt. Emergency Smash Services 12-10

Junior Rugby
Saturday was a beautiful day for junior sports. Our tamariki went out and had a blast on the fields with some awesome games played.

Rippa
Rippa Stripes (11) vs YMP Rascals (11)
Rippa Of The Day: Hirrym
Player Of The Day: Piper
Good Sport: Lochie

Rippa Black (win by default) vs St Joseph's School
Player Of The Day: Mackenzie
Good Sport: Hugo

Rippa White (11) vs Wairoa Primary School
Rippa Of The Day: Juni
Player Of The Day: Leo
Good Sport: Colt

Junior
Athletic (17) vs Wairoa Primary School (5)
Player Of The Day: Ayva & JJ

Primary
Athletic (9) vs Wairoa Primary School (5)
Player Of The Day: William & Ryka

Senior Netball
Oslers Bakery Athletic White had two games and felt the effects of playing in the gold division with only a 5-minute break between games. Despite some hard work, they lost to Panthers and Nuhaka Seniors. The team had some strong plays and had some lessons learned moments. 16-55 to Nuhaka Seniors and 24-36 to Panthers.
Player of the day; 3: Teri Wathen-Smith, 2: Alice Wilson, 1: Courtney Hayward 

Oslers Bakery Athletic Black won their game against Nuhaka Blue 28-20. The team capitalised on shooting opportunities with Alyssa Deam showing her skills and netting a number of long shots. The shooting circle and mid-court have found rhythm. A number of turn overs by defence in the 3rd quarter secured the win. 
Player of the day; 3: Suzy Chrystal 2: Claire Little 1: Paige Bentley

Wairoa Netball takes a weekend off for Kings Birthday and will be back on the courts Saturday 7th June for
Club Weekend.

Senior Rugby
Charteris Choppers Athletic Rugby took on Ngatapa at Bayleys Athletic Park on Saturday for a friendly match. Ngatapa started fast in an intense clash, scoring early and putting Athletic on the back foot. However, Athletic rallied with determination, turning the momentum back and taking the lead. Despite a late push from Ngatapa, Athletic held firm to secure a hard-fought 36–27 victory. 3-2-1 went to Kasey Chemis, Taiamai Corker and Stephen Foley.

Senior Football
Round 6 of Tairawhiti Division Two took place at Bayleys Athletic Park where QRS Athletic Football hosted newly returned Marist under the Shockers banner, the game kicked off with high paced footy as Marist took advantage of the game opening the scoreboard early within the first 10 minutes. Athletic composed themselves having a few chances to get back into the game but to no prevail. Halftime score 3-0. Second half started with Athletic firing multiple phases of attack through midfielders Josh Cowan, Harry Champion and Tom Rowley-Westwood putting Marist under some good attacking pressure. Right winger Taing Pich showcased his skills by dribbling his way into the box to earn Athletic a penalty which captain Ben Blake stepped up and slotted through past the Marist keeper, Athletic 1-3. Athletic had full momentum and were hot on attack with confidence managed to add another goal in quick succession from a brilliant pass by Harry Champion to Tom Westwood, score 3-2. The match was back within reach. It was Marist to add the next score, capitalising on a loose ball to put them up 4-2. Athletic kept battling earning a free kick right on half way where Josh Cowan took it beautifully taking the Marist keeper by surprise, hitting the left post and finding it's way into the net, making it 4-3. Unfortunately for Athletic that was the final play. Full-time score 4-3 to Shockers Marist. There were standout players who performed extremely well - Joe De Kock and Jason Smith held the backline together and kept the boys in the game. Harry Champion, Taing Pich and Karan Singh were exceptionally good on attack. Josh Cowan, Ryan O'Sullivan and Raihania Edwards-Hammond added strength from the bench. Player of the day: tie between Josh Cowan and Joe De Kock. Next Saturday QRS Wairoa Athletic travel up to Gisborne to take on HSOB Campion.

Mercantile Squash
Round 2 of this year's competition was another busy one with lots of great games and a full gallery. A few changes on the table as all teams now have points on the board.

Waikare bt. Slort Sports 13-7
Smithy Motorcycles bt. Pensioners 13-9
​The Wishing Stars bt. PGG Wrightsons 13-12
AFFCO Stingers bt. Emergency Smash Services 12-9

Junior Rugby
Most of our juniors travelled to Nuhaka for their club day, taking on their junior teams. Our newly established Rippa team Stripes had a game at Lambton Square against Tapuae.

Rippa
Rippa Stripes (10) vs Tapuae (10)
Rippa Of The Day: Iyla Kamo
Player Of The Day: Georgia
Good Sport: Briggs

Nuhaka (5) vs Rippa Black (10)
Player Of The Day: Athena Smith
Good Sport: Florence

Nuhaka (11) vs Rippa White (11)
Rippa Of The Day: Harvey
Player Of The Day: Willow
Good Sport: Indah

Junior
Nuhaka (9) vs Athletic (9)
Player Of The Day: Mason & Stuart

Primary
Nuhaka (13) vs Athletic (4)
Player Of The Day: Jimmy & Tommy

Senior Netball
Oslers Bakery Athletic Black took the court to play Nuhaka White. A team of 10 put into practise a number of skills learned at training. Black were down 2 points at half time. A few changes to each end, along with experience from Nuhaka White resulted in a 28-14 loss.

Oslers Bakery Athletic White defaulted to YMP Raupunga due to sickness and multiple ladies competing in the Hawkes Bay Marathon event.

Senior Rugby
It was a classic game of two halves on Saturday out at Nuhaka as Charteris Choppers Athletic took on Nuhaka in a gritty and exciting match. Nuhaka started fast maintaining possession most of the first half putting all 23 of their points on the board. Charteris Choppers Athletic dug deep in the second half and came storming back, piling on 19 points and closing the gap to just a try. It was tense right to the final whistle, but Athletic’s late surge wasn’t enough, as Nuhaka came away with a 23-19 win on their club day. Our 3-2-1 for the day went to Jonty Le Lievre (3) Peni Tupou (2) and George Twigley (1).

Senior Football
Saturday's Tairawhiti Division Two Round 5 Clash showcased a battle between two clubs who really enjoy the physical side of the game. QRS Wairoa Athletic Football Team traveled up to Wainui to take on the Wainui Demons who have been absent from Div 2 for the last couple of years. The game showcased a lot of heart and built character. Demons started the game off well pretty much kept Athletic hostage backed in our own half majority of the first. Putting stand in keeper Luke Graves to work right from kickoff. With Athletic's Midfielders trio of Tom Rowley-Westwood, Harry Champion and Captain Ben Blake making a few good counter attacking opportunities for Athletic to keep them in the game and give our backline a chance to breath, our backline Jason Smith, KC Morrell, Raymond Hawley and Joe De Kock showcased their ability to defend under constant pressure to keep the Demons at bay halftime score 0-0. All momentum still with Wainui it was Athletic who turned defense into offense by counter attacking and catching the Demons to far forward and Harry Champion capitalized making a half break and putting through Karan Singh in for his first ever Athletic Goal Athletic 1-0 Momentum changed and Athletic was riding the high but Demons kept trying there luck and manged to put 3 goals past our tiring players and pulled out the victory. Final score 3-1. Many positives from this game we can take back with us. Many players stood out in new positions Joe De Kock playing Centreback for the first time, KC Morrell holding the Rightback position for majority of the game and Luke Graves outstanding efforts in goal. Player of the day: Harry Champion.

We've had a very busy but rewarding week. It was mostly business as usual but our members have gone above and beyond to make sure we have the best season we can this year.

Junior squash, squash, and more squash
Our week started with the second junior squash session of the term. The kids are having a great time while working on their technique, building on some of the things they learned in the first session. Tuesday Club Nights continue to be well supported with the ladder hotly contested. Our latest ladder competition winners are Libby and Grant, gaining the most positions on the ladder in April for the ladies and mens respectively. On Wednesday we hosted a rules and refereeing course for all squash players. Every club relies on its members to assist with things like reffing matches, to ensure everything runs smoothly. So it was amazing to see so many players turning up, both new and more experienced players! Then finally on Friday the first round of Mercantile 2025 was played, check out the results below:
Pickering Cabinet Makers bt. The Wishing Stars 18-3
Farmlands bt. Emergency Smash Services 15-6
PGG Wrightsons Livestock bt. Waikare 10-9 (+1 bonus point on count back)
AFFCO Stingers bt. Smithy Motorcycles 18-6

Junior Rugby
Back in action, finally! All teams had their first training on Thursday followed by chips and hot dogs as always. Great to see the juniors getting back into it. Luckily it stayed dry (mostly) on Saturday morning, check out the match results here:

Rippa
Athletic Black (9) vs Athletic White (5)
POD Black: Duke
POD White: Ranui & Leon
Rippa of the Day: Dwight
Good Sport: Hiirym

Junior
Athletic (10) vs Tapuae (6)
POD: Grayson Goldstone & Johnson Joe Waiwai

Primary
Athletic (2) vs Tapuae (15)
POD: Charlie Goldstone & Tane Ruruhe

Senior Netball
The Oslers Bakery Netball teams took the court for 16 minute grading games this weekend. Oslers Bakery Athletic White’s first game was against the Panthers (11-13). Goal for goal nail biter with the panthers coming away with the win. The second game secured a win, 10-7 against TKT Rangatahi. It was a fast paced physical game which really tested some of the techniques that white have been practicing at training.
Players of the day: 3 - Teri, 2 - Sarah, 1 - Clare

Oslers Bakery Athletic Black played TKT Rangatahi first up. As with White, it was fast paced and physical. The team and positions played reflected what we have been training. TKT Rangatahi took the win 12-8. The second game against Panthers was a miss. Black trialled new player positions which didn’t pay dividends. Panthers won 18-0.
Players of the day: 3 - Claire, 2 - Libby, 1 - Suzy

Senior Rugby
Charteris Choppers Athletic Rugby faced HSOB at the Oval in Gisborne, coming away with a solid win. The final score 53-7 a testament to the work that's gone in at training. Awesome team work!