My name is Russell and I am from the UK. I have been playing for Temuka rugby club during the 2009 rugby season. Now the season has drawn to a close the President of the club asked me if I would like to write a few paragraphs about my experience with the club on their web site so potential players can read and have some sort of idea what to expect, which I am more than happy to do so.
When you arrive you will be well looked after by the club. You get picked up from the airport and taken back to Temuka. You will be given somewhere to stay and they will find you a job, all you have to do is turn up and play rugby!
You have two grades of rugby Senior A and Senior B and they play in the South Canterbury Union made up of 8 teams. Senior A play a good standard of rugby and if I had to make a comparison I would have say the top teams in the league would be of National 3 North and South standard and the lower teams would be of London 1 and 2 or where I come from the South West of England South West 1 and 2.
There is a fairly large gap between the two ends of the rugby league split between three town teams in Timaru and five country teams in the rest of South Canterbury. What I found unexpected when I started playing for Temuka was the long standing history between the clubs in the league. Not like back home where teams get relegated and promoted each year the same teams in NZ play each other every year.
What I enjoyed about this was you would play against teams who would have a long playing history against each other. An example would be when Temuka and Geraldine played this season for the Collogan’s cup; this is only played between these two teams. Temuka won the cup this year and the history of the cup goes back over 50 years.
There is other opportunity to win various cups throughout the season against other clubs which gives the games a little bit more edge. Also with the long standing history you get good camaraderie between the clubs and players and the watching spectators!
