16s Boys<\/p>\n
Grand Final | Counties Manukau 32 vs South Island 18<\/p>\n
Counties opened the scoring with two early tries inside the first 10 minutes, but the South Islanders were undeterred, hitting back with two tries of their own. Counties scored the final try of the half to take a 16-8 lead over the Scorpions into the break.<\/p>\n
They carried their scoring momentum into the second half, crossing for two more tries to extend their advantage. Although the Scorpions remained in the fight and responded with two tries, Counties lead was too great. They ran out 32-18 winners to claim the title, with back-rower Karcin Puna scoring a double and Kairoa Hynes adding eight points from the kicking tee.<\/p>\n
\u200d<\/p>\n
New Zealand Residents 16s Boys team<\/p>\n
Rome Faanana | Akarana<\/p>\n
Te Kiriwera Hurae | Bay of Plenty<\/p>\n
Devan Hansen | Bay of Plenty<\/p>\n
Leonjay Salevao | Canterbury<\/p>\n
Michael Fidow | Canterbury<\/p>\n
Pharron Maletino | Counties Manukau<\/p>\n
Tyler-James Finlay | Counties Manukau<\/p>\n
Desmond Kingi | Counties Manukau<\/p>\n
Reuben Ned Matautia | Counties Manukau<\/p>\n
Siope To’ofohe | Counties Manukau<\/p>\n
Dayton Edwards | Counties Manukau<\/p>\n
Cord\u0113 King | Hawke’s Bay<\/p>\n
Arama McGlade | Hawke’s Bay<\/p>\n
Matai Jones | Northland<\/p>\n
Boston Davis | South Island <\/p>\n
Lian Knoetze | South Island <\/p>\n
Jackson Robinson | South Island <\/p>\n
Khan Te Paea | Taranaki<\/p>\n
Finals MVP<\/p>\n
Karcin Puna | Counties Manukau<\/p>\n
Emerging Player<\/p>\n
Jak Lawn | Taranaki<\/p>\n
MVP of the Tournament<\/p>\n
Jackson Robinson | South Island Scorpions<\/p>\n
\u200d<\/p>\n
16s Girls<\/p>\n
Grand Final | Counties Manukau 24 vs Auckland 10<\/p>\n
The 16s Girls Grand Final was an intense battle from the outset, with both sides trading tries in the opening ten minutes before Counties edged ahead. Centre Madison Kaumavae crossed twice to help give her side a 14-4 lead at the break. <\/p>\n
Auckland came out firing in the second half, capitalising on a Counties error to score and narrow the margin to just 14-10. With the score unchanged and only seven minutes remaining on the clock, an incident saw two Vulcans players and one Counties player shown cards and sent from the field for the remainder of the match. With the extra player advantage, Counties scored twice in quick succession to seal the 16s Girls title for a fifth consecutive year.<\/p>\n
\u200d<\/p>\n
New Zealand Residents 16s Girls team<\/p>\n
Tania Savali | Akarana<\/p>\n
Lynneera Tutaia | Akarana<\/p>\n
Sasha Toailoa | Akarana<\/p>\n
Tupou Grace Havea Pahulu | Auckland<\/p>\n
Braxton Brown | Counties Manukau<\/p>\n
Kimora-Lee Lisone | Counties Manukau<\/p>\n
Presley McGarvey | Counties Manukau<\/p>\n
Tamara Lam | Counties Manukau<\/p>\n
Jovana Paselio | Counties Manukau<\/p>\n
Caitlyn Pohahau | Counties Manukau<\/p>\n
Tylah Fa’alili | Counties Manukau<\/p>\n
Pewhairangi Ashby | Manawat\u016b<\/p>\n
Keighley-Rein Araia | Manawat\u016b<\/p>\n
Nahla Mackie | Northland <\/p>\n
Kaea Jay Abraham | Northland<\/p>\n
Hazel Lang | Waikato<\/p>\n
Fabianni Napara | Waikato<\/p>\n
Tahlia Timoteo | Wellington<\/p>\n
\u200d<\/p>\n
Finals MVP<\/p>\n
Presley McGarvey | Counties Manukau<\/p>\n
Emerging Player<\/p>\n
Ocean Burns |\u00a0Akarana<\/p>\n
MVP of the Tournament<\/p>\n
Keighley-Rein Araia |\u00a0Manawat\u016b<\/p>\n
\u200d<\/p>\n
18s Boys<\/p>\n
Grand Final | Akarana 18 vs Counties Manukau 6<\/p>\n
The 18s Boys Grand Final was an intense 50-minute battle, with both teams engaging in a physical contest and leaving everything on the field. Counties opened the scoring through second-rower Lyonidas Samuel, but Akarana responded with two tries before halftime, both through winger Israel Halalupe, to take a narrow 12-6 lead into the break.<\/p>\n
Akarana added another try in the second stanza to extend their advantage, while tough defence kept Counties from crossing the line despite several close attempts. Akarana held on to secure an 18-6 victory and claim the 2026 title.<\/p>\n
\u200d<\/p>\n
New Zealand Clubs 18s Boys team<\/p>\n
Zak Schramm | Akarana <\/p>\n
Kahmarley Andrews | Akarana <\/p>\n
Solomon Westerlund | Akarana <\/p>\n
Bailey Butler-Maruariki | Akarana <\/p>\n
Isa Oto’oto | Akarana <\/p>\n
Victor Kenese | Akarana <\/p>\n
Uli Toki-Fisiifetau |Akarana<\/p>\n
Jarno Andrewes | Auckland<\/p>\n
Samas Kafoa | Auckland<\/p>\n
Robert Pange | Auckland<\/p>\n
Savelio-Anthony Pelenato | Auckland<\/p>\n
Xavier Tavita-Saumanaia | Canterbury<\/p>\n
Mason Cole | Canterbury<\/p>\n
Kaci Heath | Canterbury<\/p>\n
Ezra McCarthy | Counties Manukau<\/p>\n
Ashton Ulaula-Ieremia | Counties Manukau<\/p>\n
Siaosi Talakai-Alele | Counties Manukau<\/p>\n
James Tulikaki | Counties Manukau<\/p>\n
Tristan Ford-Walter | Counties Manukau<\/p>\n
Tusi Liam Fanolua | Counties Manukau<\/p>\n
\u200d<\/p>\n
Finals MVP<\/p>\n
Ashton Ulaula-Ieremia | Counties Manukau<\/p>\n
Emerging Player<\/p>\n
Makarios Vaihola |\u00a0Wellington<\/p>\n
MVP of the Tournament<\/p>\n
Ashton Ulaula-Ieremia | Counties Manukau<\/p>\n
\u200d<\/p>\n
18s Girls<\/p>\n
Grand Final | Counties Manukau 32 vs Auckland 6<\/p>\n
The Counties w\u0101hine took an early lead, scoring three tries. Despite being scoreless at halftime, Auckland remained in the hunt, creating several close opportunities and keeping the deficit to just 12-0, with Counties unable to add any conversions.<\/p>\n
The Aucklanders started the second half strongly, scoring an early try to get their first points on the board. However, Counties responded with a try of their own to regain momentum, going on to dominate the remainder of the match and secure a 32-6 victory, centre Armeliah Isara finishing with a double.<\/p>\n
\u200d<\/p>\n
New Zealand Clubs 18s Girls team<\/p>\n
Jaelynn Marsh | Akarana<\/p>\n
Chrisena Nathan | Auckland<\/p>\n
Tylah Waddington | Auckland<\/p>\n
Aliyah Peka Tanoai | Auckland<\/p>\n
Stella Leef | Auckland<\/p>\n
Maraea Makiha | Bay of Plenty<\/p>\n
Makayla Graham | Bay of Plenty<\/p>\n
Lily Clarke | Bay of Plenty<\/p>\n
Shanthie Lui | Counties Manukau<\/p>\n
Armeliah Isara | Counties Manukau<\/p>\n
Tayla Peters | Counties Manukau<\/p>\n
Betsy Fifita | Counties Manukau<\/p>\n
Jayralee Tonga | Counties Manukau<\/p>\n
Moonlight Moala | Counties Manukau<\/p>\n
Ella Leauga | Manawat\u016b<\/p>\n
Maddison Renae Seumanutafa | Manawat\u016b<\/p>\n
Gabriella Wright | Manawat\u016b<\/p>\n
Te Ami Amairi Te Hei | Manawat\u016b<\/p>\n
Taliah Mapakaitolo | Wellington<\/p>\n
Casey Sio | Wellington<\/p>\n
\u200d<\/p>\n
Finals MVP<\/p>\n
Armeliah Isara | Counties Manukau<\/p>\n
Emerging Player<\/p>\n
Karamea Driscoll Maruariki |\u00a0Akarana<\/p>\n
MVP of the Tournament<\/p>\n
Shanthie Lui | Counties Manukau<\/p>\n
\u200d<\/p>\n
Referees Awards<\/p>\n
Young Referee of the Tournament |\u00a0Cody Docherty<\/p>\n
Referee’s Choice of the Tournament | Aleigha Macdonald-Cope<\/p>\n
Referee of the Tournament |\u00a0Luke Whittaker<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"16s Boys Grand Final | Counties Manukau 32 vs South Island 18 Counties opened the scoring with two…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":628374,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[111,43,139,69],"class_list":["post-628373","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/628373","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=628373"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/628373\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/628374"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=628373"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=628373"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=628373"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}