Sir Leslie Herron Rugby Scholarship Recipients Announced
“citizenship, scholarship, and a contribution to Rugby”
In consultation with NSW Country Rugby Union, Sydney Junior Rugby Union and NSW Rugby Union, the Foundation’s Grants Committee has reviewed a number of impressive scholarship applications, and is pleased to announce that the recipients of the Sir Leslie Herron Rugby Scholarships in 2023 are:
Charlie Norton (nominee of NSW Country Junior Rugby Union)
Leilani Taufa (nominee of Sydney Junior Rugby Union)
The Foundation’s Grants Committee thank all applicants who applied for this year’s Sir Leslie Herron Rugby Scholarships, noting that every applicant is an outstanding member of the Rugby community.
Charlie Norton
Charlie Norton is, at 17 years of age, an accomplished player, in both XVs and 7s, an aspiring coach with a Level 2 qualification and a qualified referee. Charlie is a dedicated member of the Rugby community and is looking forward to furthering her development in Rugby education.
Charlie’s love of Rugby began as an U8 at the Kempsey Cannonballs. In 2022, she was appointed as the Captain of the NSW U18s Super W and 7s sides and earned the U18s Girls Best Forward Award at both the NSW Country Championships and the City v Country match.
Whilst still a student at Hunter Sports High School, where she is the 2023 School Captain, Charlie actively contributes to the Rugby community as a volunteer coach and referee, as well as being a casual Development Officer for NSWRU. Charlie is a coach at the Hunter Wildfires Summer Academy, as well as assistant coach for the U13 Wildfires Girls 7s and U13 Hamilton Hawks 7s. She also assists with the administration and refereeing of primary school gala days and the Newcastle/Hunter 7s Friday Night Competition.
Charlie is passionate about the growth of Rugby and hopes to inspire other young people to join her in the ranks of Rugby.
Leilani Taufa
Leilani has established herself as an up-and-coming player in both XVs and 7s in her relatively young Rugby career. Having started playing with Hills Junior Rugby in 2019, Leilani quickly found herself in the Two Blues Representative side playing at the NSWJRU State Championships, where they were joint Champions with Eastwood. Despite interruptions due to the global pandemic, she has remained a fixture in representative sides each year. Leilani is currently playing at Lindfield in the SJRU Girls 7s and XVs competitions.
Leilani regularly referees in the juniors XVs and 7s, for both the boys and girls SJRU competitions. Having only started refereeing in 2020, her promise as a match official has already been recognised, with her appointment to several juniors representative XVs and 7s fixtures in 2022. Leilani’s commitment to the game is evident when looking at the variety of geographical locations at which she has already refereed, including Mudgee, Maitland, Tuggerah and Forster.
As her skills and knowledge of the game progressed Leilani also became interested in coaching. She has completed her Foundation Coaches course and is working towards her Level 1 qualification.
Leilani is eager to continue developing as a player, referee and coach whilst taking her opportunities to give back to the Rugby community.
The Foundation wishes Charlie and Leilani every possible success in furthering their Rugby aspirations while embracing the values of past scholarship recipients: citizenship, scholarship, and a contribution to Rugby.
The Primary Object of the Foundation is to encourage the sport of Rugby in the State of New South Wales and elsewhere at a grassroots level. The Board of Directors of the Foundation has resolved that there is no more fitting way in which to demonstrate the Foundation’s commitment to grassroots Rugby than to continue to award the Sir Leslie Herron Rugby Scholarships for the benefit of Junior Rugby participants.
Sir Leslie Herron Scholarship Grant Recipients
Country
2023 – Charlie Norton
2022 – Darcy Brown
2021 – Mitchell Watts
2020 - Jayden Blake
2007 - Phillip Webb
2005 - Kieran Wallace
2004 - Doug Buchanan
Sydney
2023 – Leilani Taufa
2022 – Oscar Morgan
2021 – Liam Andrews
2020 - Ally Bullman
2007 - Daniel Alley
2006 - Tom Heslop
2005 - Mitchell Greenway
2004 - Robert Temaipi