Tim Calder

Last night I was elected onto the committee of the Light Blues which is an Association of former players, officials and supporters of the Otago University Rugby Club for the purpose of fostering interest in rugby at the University of Otago and in the Club. The Light Blues were always very supportive while I played rugby and have given generously to the club for many years. My aim for this association is to promote their membership to younger past players and those non-playing members that have supported the club while studying at the University. Our Club is the greatest rugby club in the country, as I have finished my rugby career I feel it is important for me to continue my support as a non-player so that others can share the enjoyment I have had.

One of the world’s greatest flankers made a brief comeback onto the Rugby field this weekend. Josh Kronfeld today doubled as a player/coach to support our University A’s as they battle with injury.  Josh was selected for the All Blacks in 1995 where he played 56 matches. Both John Leslie and Josh Kronfeld have played professional international rugby which make them a very high profile coaching duo in the Dunedin Metropolitan Club Rugby Competition. As these two past great rugby players gain experience together as coaches I believe the Otago Rugby Football Union will look at greater positions for them. 

Wednesday night at 6pm the rescheduled University A’s verse B’s Rugby game will kick off. There has been only once in History when the University B’s has beaten the University A’s. It has been quite a rough start to the year for both teams as the A’s are third to bottom of the table and the B’s are bottom. Never before have both teams been so close to being equal. This has been helped by the good recruiting skills of the B’s coaches along with the collapse of the local Rugby League competition providing the team with an injection of fresh talent.

This years rugby registration has gone very smoothly thanks to our new web site www.ourclub.co.nz. Players fill out their details on line where once selected into a team their NZRFU forms are printed out ready to be signed. This system will be the first in NZ which saves the players having to fill out multiple forms for player selection, club registration, and NZRFU requirements. This also allows teams, players families, coaches, etc to be group emailed with updates, and other announcements of team and club events.