Introducing the Chiefs' latest No 10 prodigy that spent five years playing First XV rugby
At just 20 years of age, Rivez Reihana may look like a boy amongst men when he runs onto the park for his Super Rugby Aotearoa debut this season.
The new Chiefs first five is well-versed in competing with players that are older, bigger and more experienced than he is, however.
In his freshman year of high school, Reihana was brought into his high school’s First XV and asked to plug gaps in the outside backs.
That’s not uncommon in the more rural areas, but Reihana was reared at Saint Kentigern College in Auckland – the school that’s produced All Blacks such as Joe Rokocoko, John Afoa, Jerome Kaino and Braydon Ennor.
The team weren’t simply going through the motions either. While Reihana was at Saint Kents, the First XV managed three Auckland 1A titles and one further finals appearance.
“I sort of made my debut in Year 9,” Reihana somewhat sheepishly admitted to RugbyPass.
“I jumped in when I was maybe 14. I remember it like it was yesterday, far out, it was pretty daunting. I was half the size of some of the lads.”
Debuting in your first year of schooling is the kind of achievement that is unsurprisingly quickly picked up on by talent scouts and in Reihana’s penultimate year of college, Andrew Strawbridge, the Chiefs’ then-resource coach, came calling.
“I didn’t really think I had that much attention on me at the time,” said Reihana. “I was just really pumped that I was even on the Chiefs and Straws’ radar.
“I was just buzzing, I was really excited to be in the conversation, to have my name chucked about in some conversations between those guys [Dave Rennie and co] who were so high up at the time.”
On a trip down to Hamilton with the Saint Kents First XV, Reihana stopped in to chat with Strawbridge and before he knew it, was messing around with the Chiefs squad at a skills training session.
It was a surreal experience for the teenager – but his early ascension to his school’s premier team meant the young playmaker wasn’t too fazed by the superstars that surrounded him, he was already used to rubbing shoulders with players above his station.
Brodie Retallick, one of the greatest players in rugby history, is weighing up his future.
The #AllBlacks lock spoke to @TomVinicombe about his plans for the coming years and how an immense workload in his early days left him in dire need of a break.https://t.co/ptFSo2a3eA
— RugbyPass+ (@RugbyPassPlus) February 8, 2021
Following the visit, Reihana and his family deliberated over his future, but the end result was inevitable from the start.
“My parents, especially my dad, they were quite keen on getting me down here and with the Chiefs,” Reihana said.
“We loved it from the moment we first visited here. The Chiefs environment, the Chiefs base itself, the players had a big helping hand in turning it into a rugby environment.
“That was quite cool, my dad quite liked that – the humble sort of ethos that was in and around the environment at the time. I think that was brought in by Dave Rennie and that. That was a big factor in terms of me coming down.”
The Chiefs and Waikato signed Reihana up on an investment deal, which ensured that he would spend his first years out of school representing the Mooloos.
As his eventual spell with Waikato drew near, Reihana continued to tick the boxes, representing the New Zealand Schools side in 2017 and 2018, then playing for the U20 team a year later – while he was still 19.
Later that year, Reihana made his first appearance for Waikato, in their opening Mitre 10 Cup clash with Canterbury. It was a debut that had been two years in the making and while Reihana had been anticipating a small stint at the back-end of the game, fate had other ideas.
“[Waikato fullback] Tyler Campbell ended up going down in like the first minute and had broken his ankle or leg so I got chucked into the mixer straight away,” said Reihana.
“I was practising at 10 the entire week then played 78 minutes at 15, which was an experience, to say the least.”
In a back-and-forth affair which saw the lead change hands six times, Waikato emerged victorious, 31-28.
Star Chiefs flanker Lachlan Boshier has opened up on his omission from last year's All Blacks squad following a raft of compelling Super Rugby Aotearoa displays.https://t.co/r4igB3YOFW
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) February 2, 2021
Reihana went on to make a further eight appearances in 2019 and would have again featured for the New Zealand U20 side last year, if the campaign hadn’t been curtailed due to COVID.
In 2020, Reihana suited up to play for Waikato once more – and it’s again a match against Canterbury that the youngster remembers fondly.
In the last act of a game that had transitioned well into overtime, Reihana was called upon to slot a wide-angle conversion that was needed for his side to record the win.
“It was quite an ugly game, to be fair,” Reihana said. “Both teams weren’t really triggering in terms of their attack but I think it was probably a credit to both side’s defences and it only came down to the last… not even the last minute. 10 minutes into overtime, I think it was the 89th minute.”
A chance to secure victory well past the final buzzer is exactly the kind of situation that first fives thrive on, surely?
“Yeah 100%. That’s the sort of stuff that dreams are made of. Whether you get it or not, I just try and trust the process. It’s a little bit cliche but it actually means a lot. You can either be results-driven or process-driven and I just tried my best to be process-driven at that point in time.
“Obviously I felt the pressure but yeah just decided to walk towards it and stick to my process and if it goes over, it goes over. If it doesn’t, it doesn’t.”
To Reihana’s credit, the ball sailed through the posts.
“It was a little bit of a sticky situation but we managed to get through.”
Reihana will compete with Bryn Gatland and Kaleb Trask for the No 10 jersey at the Chiefs this year and while his experience at Super Rugby level is limited, his undeniable talent could see the pivot handed greater opportunities than many would expect for a 20-year-old.
Despite growing up in Northland and completing his education in Auckland, Reihana is comfortable where he’s landed and is firmly entrenched as a Chiefs man through and through. For Reihana and his family, he’s in the perfect place to flourish.
Comments on RugbyPass
Not sure how Karl Dickson can ever ref a Quins game, he played for the club for 8 years as understudy to Care and is still close friends with half the team
3 Go to commentsAre bookies taking bets on how many times Vunipola's eventual statement will use the term “elders"? My money is on at least 4 times.
4 Go to commentsSo Ireland will be tired, despite having the most rested test squad in the world. They only play tests, champions cup and urc play off games ffs! Case in point; Leinster sent a B squad to SA for their last two games while their first xv rested up and trained at their leisure for the sf vs Saints at the so called ‘neutral venue’ of Croke Park. So tired? Do me a favour… And as for “people’s champions”? Seriously??? Outside of Ireland they are respected for their ability to win 6N. And of course plenty of inconsequential test friendlies without any real pressure. WC ko games when the pressure is white hot? Not so much…
1 Go to commentsSurprising how standing down or benching a player can do wonders for their motivation. Several players this week in that category.
1 Go to commentsHaha lads lads lads, that’s how you have a holiday In Majorca
4 Go to commentshit on Lynagh was defo late and card-worthy. The other 2 are bang on OK. Hurts you at Test level if youre timing is off and the nostrils are flared. Jerry C knew when to lean in on one, Finau just needs to keep his discipline and head straight.
5 Go to commentsSlade was exceptional against Gloucester. Not only was he doing the classic Slade stuff of running amazing lines and timing passes to perfection to put his wingers into space, he was kicking goals, flying off the line smashing people and crashing into rucks like a flanker… his hair even looked on point. 😍
1 Go to commentsThat’s really sad, hope everyone involved is ok. At least he had pants on.
4 Go to commentsTo be fair it was nowhere bear the Leinster first team (for which, btw, Leinster copped nothing like the outrage that Jake White did for sending a rotated team to the UK). But it’s fun to watch the Stormers doing their thing. They are attracting big, diverse crowds of young fans, and deservedly so. Great to see.
1 Go to commentsIt might be legal but he’s sailing pretty close to the wind. Not a lot needs to go wrong for Finau to end up in the bin. Was it late? Not quite, but borderline. High? A couple of CM within the laws, no room for error with that one. Did he wrap the arms? There was a token effort to wrap one arm, the intent was clearly to hit with the shoulder. So yeah, it’s legal, just. But as we all know, a very slight change in the dynamics could easily have him seeing red. Hopefully not when it really matters.
5 Go to commentsCan we also show some love for Tane Edmed’s fantastic draw and pass? Put his body on the line and committed the defender before letting go of that pass. Flawless skill.
5 Go to commentsYou forget this is Rassie Erasmus who is still holding the Springbok keys. Even with Felix Jones orchestrating a really tight RWC SF last year. It still wasn't enough to get England past their particular Springbok Monkey in world cups. The reason is FJ was going off of what they did in 2019 not necessarily adapting to current Springboks. So yes, Australia can get passed England because let's be honest, England have a one track strategy, Springboks do not. Even with rush defense I wouldn't be surprised if Rassie continually tweaks it. Also bear in mind Rassie is happy to sacrifice a few mid year and inter World Cup matches to pin point how opposition plays and how to again tweak strategies to get his Springboks in peak performance for the next World Cup. As much as most teams like to win games in front of them and try to win everything, Rassie always makes sure to learn and train for the greatest showdown International Rugby has to offer. Tbh, most people remember World Cup wins and ignore intermediate losses as a result but will remember also WC losses, Ireland, even if they won games in the interim. So even if games are won against the Springboks, it's likely Rassie is just getting a feel for how opposition is moving and adapt accordingly…in time. For Rassie, a loss is never a loss because he uses it as a chance to learn and improve. Sometimes during a game, again like the England match in last year's Semi Final.
7 Go to commentsDanny don't care. He pretends to care but he don't. He says all this stuff to justify his reasoning but no one can claim that legitimately. He knew exactly what he was doing and wondered if his old team mate would overlook it, which he did. Ref has got to be sidelined or properly trained. It's one thing for refs to move up the ranks but if it was me I would require refs to either have played in different clubs or not at all having the temptation to bias in high stakes games like this. This has got to be stamped out. But then again World Rugby is so destroying the game of rugby in an attempt to be more “safe” and “concussion free”. What they are doing is making it more infuriating for the fans and more difficult for the refs to officiate evenly and consistently. It's fast become Australian Rules football. If guys don't want concussions, they should have played chess. Stop complaining you oldies of the game. When they played the game was vastly heavier hitting than it is now but of course they can't see that.
3 Go to commentsJa, why do Bulls get flack for not bringing their best but Leinster never bring their best and it goes “unnoticed”?
4 Go to commentsIt’ll be very interesting to see how Razor’s AB’s handle the new England rush D. It’s basically the Bok recipe they copied, so if England goes well then we know most likely the Boks will go well too. If England cops a hiding then we’ll have to study and adapt.
7 Go to commentsTypical trait of an australian is to moan. Goes well with there lack of humbleness as evident by the Reds bench on the weekend.
5 Go to commentsSBW’s bro’town commentary and lazy default to hyperbole should be ignored, a technical analyst he is not. Sotutu is a good player when games get goosey loosey, high skill set that fans of Zinzan recall with starry eyes. But you need power and mongrel at no8 in the Test arena and Sotutu gets found wanting there, much like Akira Ioane. No8’s like Zinzan and Ardie have bucketloads of mongrel and power and tenacity which allow the skill sets to flourish.
12 Go to commentsAn inside pass to attacker on the angle can make a drift defence look lead footed. Relies on fleet footed forward/s to get across from the breakdown. An argument for the smaller faster 7 perhaps?
7 Go to commentsSensational tackle. The reds one was late and rightly penalised. The other two were simultaneous with the pass. If nitpicking TMOs can’t find fault there clearly isn’t any.
5 Go to commentsBrumbies fully deserved their win on the back of their physicality and desire to control the ball. Xavier Numia, Asafo Aumua and Tyrel Lomax should be the ABs starting front row when we start our test schedule. They have “come of age” and have bested all they have faced as well as been dominant with ball in hand in making the gainline. With De Groot, Tamaiti Williams and Fletcher Newell backed up by Taukei'aho and Cody Taylor there's not an international front row that can trouble us. Can't wait to face the Boks over there, won't be no one point game this time.
7 Go to comments