MAGS 1st XV bond in the Cooks

The 23-strong Mt Albert Grammar School’s first XV rugby team played their first up game on tour against a Cook Islands country under 19 team yesterday.

Within their first 24 hours on the island – the team are loving the Cook Islands experience already and look forward to two more games against their Cook Islands counterparts.

Mt Albert Grammar School deputy principal and team manager Chris Metcalfe says that team is on the island for three hours of seven days of exploring Rarotonga.

He says that the tour to Rarotonga is part of the teams bonding and binding as many of the young men will continue to play in the first XV team next year. The team includes three Cook Islands lads namely Oneal Rongo of the Arorangi Cowboys club, Ethan Thompson with Mangaia lineage and Aitutaki lad Michael Kelly.

Metcalfe says that they enjoyed a good number of Cook Islands boys in the schools prestigious first XV rugby team over the past two to three years including Cook Islands boys born in New Zealand and the Cook Islands.

This year the team placed 3rd overall in the New Zealand schoolboy rugby championships and were the Auckland and New Zealand champion school boy first XV team in 2010.

The team will be hosted by the Rarotonga Mt Albert Grammar family at the RSA tonight before their second game on tour on Wednesday against a town under 19 team at 4.30pm at the Avatiu field.

The teams third and final game on tour will be against a resident first XV under 19 team at 4.30pm on Saturday after the first round of the CITC-Rarotonga club sevens competition at the BCI Stadium.