Panguru, Kaeo drop out of North Zone
Organisers of the North Zone senior club rugby competition have had to go back to the drawing board and redo the draw following the late withdrawal of Kaeo earlier this week.
While Panguru pulled out several weeks ago, Northland Rugby earlier this week confirmed Kaeo had pulled the pin which has forced organisers to reconfigure the draw released for the 2020 competition after it had appeared on the Northland Rugby website.
Both coaching staffs for Panguru and Kaeo said they had reluctantly decided to pull out of this year’s championship following poor turnouts at pre-season trainings which would have made the fielding of a competitive side week-in week-out a difficult proposition.
Panguru manager Mike Te Wake was disappointed but said there just weren’t enough players on the ground this season.
It proved a shortlived comeback for Kaeo who made a concerted effort to return from two years in the abyss to contest both North Zone and domestic Bay of Islands titles as part of the club’s centennial celebrations in 2019. Coach Paul Nathan said he had decided to call it quits to give time to anyone keen to play this year to find another club.
The competition remains on track to start on March 7 with four teams each from the two
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