Cowboys duel with Panthers this week

The Arorangi Cowboys and Tupapa Panthers have emerged as the early leaders of the 2012 rugby union season – both winning their first two games of the season convincingly.

However, this Saturday one of the two clubs will establish themselves as the early overall leader of the tournament when they go head to head at Victoria Park in the ‘game of the week’ in round three of the competition.

At the weekend the Cowboys played a brutal game against the Takuvaine Reds where the Cowboys played with fierce determination to win the match 33-8.

At Tupapa, the Panthers slaughtered the Bulls 34-12 setting the scene for a very interesting and no doubt bruising encounter this weekend between the Panthers and Cowboys.

The Ngatangiia Dragons will be buoyed by their hammering of the Eels 42-20 at the weekend ahead of their next match up against the Bulls while the Reds head to the swamp to take on the Eels – it’s an Eels camp that will be licking their wounds after a thumping by the Dragons.

Before the big boys in the Senior A grade take to the field the future of rugby take the spotlight this Wednesday in the first of the Under 16 Powerade Challenge to be played at Arorangi between the Cowboys and the Reds.

Details of who to look out for in both teams will be published in tomorrow’s Cook Islands News sports pages.