Players ready for Gwynne Shield
Cambridge is about to play host to Waikato’s future star rugby players.
The Gwynne Shield has been played since 1925 and the tournament will again be hosted by the Cambridge Sub-Rugby Union, at Hautapu, from July 9 to 16.
Cambridge won the tournament in 2016 and will be looking to defend its title this year.
Every year, many players from years seven and eight will follow in the footsteps of their brothers, fathers and grandfathers, in their quest to win the week-long tournament.
Teams from the Waikato and Bay of Plenty will play one to two games everyday for duration of the competition.
They rest Saturday before the finals on Sunday July 16.
Gwynne Shield is the first step towards Waikato representative rugby.
Selectors will be at each game, choosing players to form a Country team and a City team, formerly known as the Rangers and Rovers.
From here, a team will be formed to play in Roller Mills Tournament, hosted this year by St Peter’s School in Cambridge.
The coaches of the Cambridge Gwynne Shield team are Jason Cameron, Craig Hills and assistant coach is Jackson Lee.
The managers are Jatin Bhai and Jason McCarthy.
Cameron said all of the coaches were looking forward to working with a talented group of young players this year.
‘‘We’ve been building up nicely towards the tournament. We had a preseason game against the Titons from Tokoroa which helped us select our final group of players.
‘‘We have about three players returning from our winning team last year but overall it’s pretty much a new team from last season.’’
Cameron said the team would enjoy having home-ground advantage and hoped the community would come out to watch the young rugby teams.
‘‘Out first game is against Te Awamutu, the team we played in the final last year. So it’s going to be a great game.’’
The team is: Hunter McKenzie (C), Lachlan McCarthy (Vc), Mitch Hills, Ben Douglas, Hunter Read, Nathan Smith, Chad Cameron, Liam Davis, Bailey Morgan, Toby Robinson, Lachie Dawe, Liam Clark, Flynn Crookston, Orlando Lay, Lachy Cattley, Charlie Stewart, Karl Thomas, Drew Signal, Logan Hall, Seth Rae, Cody Day, Dylan Bhai, Rua O’Reilly and Jaxson Russell.
The team’s sponsors include Propools, JumpFlex, Cambrilea Weed Sprays, FMG & Wrightsons.