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Cruden, Moli and Reihana named in All Blacks Under 20 training squad
Fifty-two of New Zealand’s top emerging talent in rugby will descend on Palmerston North next month as New Zealand Rugby launches the next phase of its development programme to find a World Champion New Zealand Under 20 team to compete at the World Rugby Under 20 Championship in Italy in July.
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After dominating the age-grade competition for the first four years of its existence, the Baby Blacks have managed just two titles between 2012 and 2018 and finished in 7th place last year.
As such, NZR have updated the selection process to include multiple trials in the lead-up to team selection, with over 100 players attending the first training camp in November.
The latest camp sees a number of well-known rugby names vying for spots in the squad that will travel to Italy later in the year.
First five Stu Cruden, flanker Taine Plumtree, flanker Robert Rush and props Hamdahn Tuipulotu and Monu Moli all have family that should be well-known to the New Zealand public.
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Aaron Cruden (Stu’s brother), Xavier Rush (Robert’s father), Patrick Tuipulotu (Hamdahn’s brother) and Atu Moli (Monu’s brother) have all represented the All Blacks while John Plumtree (Taine’s father) was head coach of the Hurricanes in 2019 and has now joined the All Blacks coaching set-up.
A number of last year’s Under 20 side could also be set for a second World Championship with the team.
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Prop Fletcher Newell, locks Tupou Vaa’i and Plumtree, loose forward Simon Parker, halfback Taufa Funaki and first five Rivez Reihana all represented New Zealand at the 2019 tournament.
Coach Craig Philpott is appreciative of the new selection process.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B8cmJ9Rgs2C/
“It’s widened our base and created a really competitive environment,” said Philpott. “With that has come a good selection dilemma because outside the 52 we have named today, there are another 20 players on a shortlist that could easily have been selected.”
The development camp begins with expert coaches focussing on set-piece work with forwards, and a focus on game drivers for halfbacks, first five-eighth and fullbacks. An additional eight players will join triallists for these sessions.
The camp concludes with skillset testing, game plan development and scenarios.
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A second trial camp will be held in April before a squad is named for the Oceania Under 20 Championship.
https://twitter.com/RugbyPass/status/1227721230704234496
Forwards
Hamdahn Tuipulotu (Auckland)
Soane Vikena (Auckland)
Terrell Peita (Auckland)
Benet Kumeroa (Bay of Plenty)
Finlay Brewis (Canterbury)
Tamaiti Williams (Canterbury)
Fletcher Newell (Canterbury)
Thomas Edwards (Canterbury)
Lockie McNair (Canterbury)
Sam Darry (Canterbury)
"The model, as it exists now, is not working. Not for fans, not for clubs, not for players and surely not for NZR."
– Hamish Bidwell weighs in on New Zealand Rugby's predicament with the threat of South Africa leaving. https://t.co/EswSmgHtuI
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) February 11, 2020
Mahonri Ngakuru (Canterbury)
Zach Gallagher (Canterbury)
Ioane Moananu (Counties Manukau)
Jimmy Roots (North Harbour)
Robert Rush (Northland)
Saula Mau (Otago)
Jake Russ (Otago)
Tupou Vaa’i (Taranaki)
Josh Lord (Taranaki)
https://www.instagram.com/p/B8Z8daUgBFl/
Anton Segner (Tasman)
Tom Martin (Waikato)
Simon Parker (Waikato)
Tyrone Thompson (Wellington)
Caleb Delany (Wellington)
Taine Plumtree (Wellington)
Iona Apineru (Wellington)
Josh Southall (Wellington)
Sam Smith (Wellington)
Shamus Hurley-Langton (Wellington)
Backs
Taufa Funaki (Auckland)
Zarn Sullivan (Auckland)
Corey Evans (Auckland)
Lemeki Namoa (Auckland)
Meihana Grindlay (Auckland)
Heremaia Murray (Auckland)
Cassius Misa (Bay of Plenty)
Peni Lasaqa (Bay of Plenty)
Luke Donaldson (Canterbury)
Chay Fihaki (Canterbury)
https://www.instagram.com/p/B8Z9RIzg95h/
Isaiah Punivai (Canterbury)
Cam Roigard (Counties Manukau)
Stu Cruden (Manawatu)
Josiah Maruku (Manawatu)
Drew Wild (Manawatu)
James Arscott (Otago)
Harrison Boyle (Otago)
Lukas Halls (Taranaki)
Rivez Reihana (Waikato)
Gideon Wrampling (Waikato)
Aiden Morgan (Wellington)
Roderick Solo (Wellington)
Ruben Love (Wellington)
Players attending the set-piece or game drivers camps: George Bell (Canterbury), Latrell Smiler Ah Kiong (Hawke’s Bay), Ben Strang (Manawatu), Tevita Langi (North Harbour), Matt Graham Williams (Tasman), Luka Inch (Tasman), Monu Moli (Tasman) and Havila Molia (Waikato)
– with NZ Rugby
New Zealand Rugby is set to review its controversial All Blacks rest policy:
Comments on RugbyPass
It’s a good, timely wake up call for NZ Rugby (seem to be a few of them lately!) - sort out the bureaucratic nonsense at board level. We can’t expect to stay the number one option without keeping fans/players engaged. We’ve obviously been bleeding players to league for years but can’t let the floodgates open (although I think this headline is hyperbolic as it’s a result of a recent Warriors pathways system where they are tracking things more closely) Understand the need to focus boys on rugby if they’re at a proud rugby school too, don’t think it’s harsh at all re Barakat in Hamilton. Reward the committed players with squad positions. An elite 1st XV system in NZ has done more for league than they even realise, think it’s good to protect our game further.
6 Go to commentsDon’t pay a blind bit of notice to Lukie… he likes the sound of his own voice and is always looking for something controversial to say. He has been banging on about Leinster's defensive system all season like he knows something Jacques Nienebar doesn’t. Which is the reason why he didn’t apply for the job obviously
14 Go to commentsWho got the benefits out of Schmidt, Lowe, Aki, and Gibson Park?
14 Go to commentsWhat’s new its a common occurrence, just the journos out there expecting a negative spin. The outcome will be beneficial to jordie and Leinster. The home grown lads hav got some experience to step up to and be more competitive, that or spend the 6 months keeping the bench warm.
14 Go to commentsI’m all for speeding up the game. But can we be certain that the slowness of the game contributed to fans walking out? I’m not so sure. Super rugby largely suffered from most fans only being able to, really, follow the games played in their own time zone. So at least a third of the fan base wasn’t engaged at any point in time. As a Saffer following SA teams in the URC - I now watch virtually every European game played on the weekend. In SR, I wouldn’t be bothered to follow the games being played on the other side of the world, at weird hours, if my team wasn’t playing. I now follow the whole tournament and not just the games in my time zone. Second, with New Zealand teams always winning. It’s like formula one. When one team dominates, people lose interest. After COVID, with SA leaving and Australia dipping in form, SR became an even greater one horse race. Thats why I think Japan’s league needs to get in the mix. The international flavor of those teams could make for a great spectacle. But surely if we believe that shaving seconds off lost time events in rugby is going to draw fans back, we should be shown some figures that supports this idea before we draw any major conclusions. Where are the stats that shows these changes have made that sort of impact? We’ve measured down to the average no. Of seconds per game. Where the measurement of the impact on the fanbase? Does a rugby “fan” who lost interest because of ball in play time suddenly have a revived interest because we’ve saved or brought back into play a matter of seconds or a few minutes each game? I doubt it. I don’t thinks it’s even a noticeable difference to be impactful. The 20 min red card idea. Agreed. Let’s give it a go. But I think it’s fairer that the player sent off is substituted and plays no further part in the game as a consequence.
2 Go to commentsThose are pretty good draws for the two top Aussie teams. I certainly wouldn't want my Chiefs to have a quarter final in Brisbane. None of the top teams will want the Crusaders.
1 Go to commentsHonestly, I am a bit lost here …. Ireland - RSA was (at least in my opinion) perhaps (from a purely technical / rugby-skills-show point of view) the pinnacle of the RWC2023 - almost flawless playing (putting aside the kicking of RSA which was the difference between the two teams), rugby at it’s very best …. if I were a Bok and after the game some Irish lads came around saying “see you in 5 weeks same place”, I definitely wouldn’t have thought of it as being in any way “arrogant”, rather a sort of jolly “if we both continue to play like this, no one could stop us” - besides, few of us fans would have, at that time, been surprised to see the same teams playing on 23 september and 28 october 2023 ….. well, we all know Ireland chose to hit a slump to keep the QF curse alive …..
135 Go to commentsThere’s value gleaned from having an All Black star running and training with your team. How many games he starts (or even where he plays in the backline) will be decided on a week by week basis based on the needs for that week. But the overall learning and growth for all concerned, I’d think, is massively beneficial. Especially for Irish players.
14 Go to commentsSon, whith just " raw athlete “ , you are able to beat “ better rugby players “ by 74 points…. May be England should recruit in athletics….
1 Go to commentsPffft. It’s not a one-way street bud and Irish teams don’t seem to have had an issue taking kiwi players previously.
14 Go to commentsParticularly great to have captain Scott Barrett back after going off last week for the Crusaders. Codie Taylor a real leader and mighty Tamaiti Williams join Fletcher Newell in the front row. Those 2 will make a big difference. Great bench with the likes of Tom Christie, Jamie Hannah etc who are playing well. Should be a great derby.
1 Go to commentsDoes a blitz defence not have a weekness against a well-placed grubber kick, perhaps angled cleverly. All the defence is up and the full-back can only cover so much ground. Thoughts?
28 Go to commentsWhile Iose is destructive in the Canes set-up, he is not big for an international 8 and could struggle against the top teams. With his speed, he could be developed into a seven but, as Ben points out, he doesn’t show a scavenging game with the Canes or make dominating tackles. Sotutu has shown a step up this year and attitude plus motivation seems to be the big areas of growth. Deserves another AB shot imo.
3 Go to commentsNaholo is my only question mark for this side. He wasn’t the only one who had a forgettable game against the Brumbies but he was passive, defensively poor and generally lacked energy. Needs to get a whole lot busier for me. I would have liked to see Sullivan on that wing with Higgins on the bench (if staying with a 6-2 as BeegMike points out on here!)
3 Go to commentsWell, I am sure that Eben said exactly what he meant to say, exactly how he meant to say it. Does he strike you as a man that doesn't know arrogance when he sees it. He should know it because he has shaken the arrogance out of many foes before.
135 Go to commentsPls get it into your thick arrogant heads that the final was played by two Southern Hemisphere teams. The best against the best and that Argentina was just unlucky otherwise non of the Northetn Hemisphere teams would have seen the light of day.
135 Go to commentsAs long as New Zealand youth are involved in sport they are passionate for, and are well supported, it’s all good. I love league as well as rugby. NRL clubs have long since scouted the First 15 competitions, the NH and Japan scout super rugby and NPC. It’s a miracle there’s any players left for the all blacks to pick from.
6 Go to commentsI'm a Bok fan, so I don't say this lightly, but he is one of my all time favourite players. I am really going to miss watching him play. Thanks for many great memories. You are a true legend of the game.
3 Go to commentsBest way to deal with all of this is to play another game.
135 Go to commentsIt’s 12-15 games Luke. Ringrose has barely played in 2024 and Henshaw and Keenan have also been out for spells in the same time period. There are always injuries and for younger players to play with the likes of Barrett will be great for them. It’s just looking for negatives where there are none.
14 Go to comments