We had a great bunch of kids in J8 Maroon this year, from the first game against Marist we had Ryan and Flynn leading from the front and showing the boys what rippa is all about. Joel, Arc

hie M, Fergus, Ben K, Logan, Felix, Archie S and Ben C were quick to get the hang of ripping as well, and by June we had 7 of the boys getting a rip in one game as we took Takapuna down 10 tries to 8 including two turnovers.

By July everyone had managed a rip and a try with our game against Northcote Gold having a season-high 41 rips with all 8 players on the field getting a rip including Noah getting his 1st rip well before his 5th birthday.

Finally, in August, we managed to get all 11 boys on the team sheet in one game, with 10 of them getting rips and 6 scoring tries against East Coast Bays.

Other highlights of the season were the great sportsmanship demonstrated by the boys in volunteering to play for the opposition to make sure we always had even numbers for games, a few of the boys managing to pass the ball before being ripped, and the number of times the team were able to get 6 rips and force a turnover from the opposition team.  Thanks to Paul Mahan and Paul Kenrick and all of the parents for making this year so enjoyable for all of the boys!