Arorangi Bears have claimed the 2025 League 9s in Paradise tournament as they defeated Tokoroa Pacific Sharks 15-11 at the National Stadium on Saturday.

Head coach for the victorious Arorangi Bears, Andrew Purua said the final match against their brothers from the Tokoroa Pacific Sharks was difficult but their united strength and spirit as brothers made everything possible.

“It's a pretty special feeling for our boys because our preparation was really hard coming into this competition, so it means a lot to our boys and we've got a lot of supporters here with us today,” he said.

“It was a good experience and we knew it was going to be a hard-fought game just looking at the way that they (Tokoroa Pacific Sharks) played against all the other teams and with our young and inexperienced team we saw that they had a lot of experience in their team.

“We were fortunate enough to have a lot of the senior boys with the likes of Rob Heather Jr. Fortes, Anthony Tanire and also our captain James Strickland and Tua Herman.”

Arorangi Bears started preparing for the tournament in early December – However, there were a lot of stops to the competition with a lot of festivities according to Purua.