Taranaki Rugby has entered into a partnership with Verbrec as the naming rights partner for secondary school rugby in 2024 and 2025.

Local Taranaki secondary school rugby will be referred to as Verbrec Secondary School Rugby. Verbrec is a prominent multi-disciplinary engineering consultancy firm based on Devon Street East in Strandon, New Plymouth.

The start of the Verbrec Secondary School Rugby season is just around the corner, with matches set to kick off on Saturday May 4th. More than 850 secondary school athletes will lace their boots up, showcasing their talent and passion across 38 teams from 11 secondary schools all around the Taranaki Maunga. The culmination of the three male and two female competitions will take place on Saturday August 24th, when the finals day will be held at the TET Stadium & Events Centre in Inglewood.

The commencement of Verbrec Secondary School Rugby brought great excitement to Taranaki Rugby Participation Manager Ben Siffleet.

“I’m looking forward to getting out there and witnessing the passion and dedication of our Verbrec Secondary School Rugby players. Taranaki high schools serve as the nurturing hubs for the next wave of CMK Club Rugby and high-performance players. Willem Ratu (Stratford High School/Central), Pearl Kahui (Te Paepae O Aotea) and Iritana Hohaia (Opunake High School & SHGC) who last year made their Yarrows Taranaki Bulls, Central Roofing Taranaki Whio and Black Ferns debuts respectively are great examples of players who have come out of our secondary school competitions”.

Taranaki Rugby Female Lead Lisa Appert is thrilled about the growth of rugby in the girls space locally.

“The number of junior girls participating in Verbrec Secondary School Rugby is steadily increasing, with a total of seven teams in 2024. This indicates the positive impact the Friday night junior girls initiative has had.”

As part of the partnership, Verbrec will run a leadership and life skills session for aspiring Taranaki secondary school rugby players. The session will be led by Yarrows Taranaki Bulls Head Coach Neil Barnes and will focus on the development of Taranaki’s next generation on and off the rugby field.

Verbrec New Zealand General Manager Peter May was thrilled to link up with Taranaki Rugby to support the youth of the province.

“Verbrec was honoured to have this opportunity to be involved with Taranaki’s secondary school rugby, during a defining time for many young athletes in their journey.”

Since 1988, Verbrec (previously LogiCamms) has been providing innovative engineering and project delivery to clients across Australia & New Zealand. Verbrec is a leading engineering, asset management, infrastructure, and training services provider, operating across the entire asset life cycle. More recently Verbrec NZ has been involved in providing evolution engineering expertise for Biogas, Carbon Capture, Geothermal and Energy Efficiency projects around New Zealand . 

PHOTO CAPTION: (L-R) Taranaki Rugby Commercial Lead Kurt Leuthart, Verbrec New Zealand Business Development Manager Greg Barley, Verbrec New Zealand General Manager Peter May & Taranaki Rugby Participation Manager Ben Siffleet launch the partnership at Verbrec’s office in Strandon, New Plymouth.

Article added: Tuesday 30 April 2024